An Unwound Future
by CauseChocolateRocks
Summary: When a wish upon a star is made and Fate meddles with time and space, their Unwound Future is made real and, suddenly, it doesn't matter that they weren't made for each other. It doesn't matter that he's not her perfect fit, or that she's not his. Not even hatred matters. "I'll cling to it, whatever it is, whatever it means, because it's the only thing I know I was meant to have."
1. A Wish Upon A Star

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**Hello guys! This is dedicated to my Sirius Black fans, who wanted him and Hermione to be together from the start. I wish you a good reading, and hope you might review!**

**This starts at the end of Chapter 42 of my HG/RAB fanfiction called '**_**The Right Path**_**', and, to summarise the whole thing so you don't have to read the other story from the start: Hermione went back in time, had a relationship with Sirius Black because she loved Regulus and denied it because he was a Death Eater, but saves Regulus on the day of his death, then they both go into hiding and Sirius is sad and heartbroken because he thinks she's dead, so he killed Peter Pettigrew and went to Azkaban, and she decides to go and talk to him, reveal everything and apologise. **

_An Unwound Future_

-o-O-o-

_Chapter 1_

-o-O-o-

She didn't really know why she was there. She didn't really know why she told him about her time travel. She didn't really know what they were anymore. She loved Regulus. They were married, after all. But still, she could never forget Sirius Black, who had taken care of her when his brother couldn't.

So there they were, in the cold prison of Azkaban, two months after James and Lily's death, she just outside his cell, he crouched inside, gripping the bars.

"There was something between us, right?" he asked. "I mean, there was love, and passion…"

"Yes, there was." she admitted. "There was love, passion, there was a flame… But there was regret, deceit, hidden thoughts…"

"Only on your part." he said accusingly.

"I know." she said. "I'm the love of your life, but you weren't mine. You were _a_ love _in_ my life."

"I thought…" he started, before clearing his throat, as his voice was thick with multiple and conflicting emotions. "I though we went deeper than skin."

"We did." she agreed. "And what lied within is still deeper than we know." There was a silence. "I loved you, you know." she blurted out at one point.

"Really?" he asked. "When?"

"When I mistook my love for Regulus with hatred…" she explained. "Since that day, when you were ready to take me back despite everything I'd done, all those times I just let you down and hurt you…"

"I'd take you back now with open arms." he said, almost to himself.

She smiled. "I loved you for that." she explained. "But then… The day Mary died, I realised love wasn't enough to keep us together. That death could do us easily apart."

"Then I asked you to marry me." he said, to carry the story on.

"Yes." she agreed. "I didn't know what to say. I said yes as I weighed both options, thinking that, had I said no, you would've realised that I'm not the one for you, that I kept letting you down and hurting you… I was afraid you'd leave me." Her voice broke as she revealed this.

"I wouldn't have." he declared softly.

She smiled weakly. "I only realise that now." she admitted. She sighed. "Then I realised my mistakes, saying yes and that I loved Regulus, and I decided to fix them both… So I left. And I hurt you."

"I lived." he said, trying to toughen himself up a bit.

"Obviously." she said. "But I hated myself for hurting you, and when Regulus said the same… I guess we fit because we're both monsters in our own eyes." she theorised.

"You aren't a monster to me." he declared, grabbing the bars of his cell.

"And he's not one to me." she said. "Don't you see, Sirius?" she asked, exasperated. She stood up, pacing the corridor in front of him. "He is to me what I am to you! He's…" she smiled. "He's my Hermione."

After a while, he sighed. "I guess we're both fools then?" he asked.

"Yeah." she agreed with a short laugh. "If they had a king for fools, would you wear the crown?" she asked.

"Probably." he told her. "But we'd have to share it."

There was another long pause, during which Hermione sat back down in front of Sirius, so that she could whisper to him. "I love you, Sirius." she admitted.

"I love you, Hermione." he answered, even though he knew perfectly well that these words didn't mean the same thing from her as they did from him.

"Maybe," she mused. "Maybe there's a book, in the archives of time, that's called: 'Sirius Black, Hermione Granger; an Unwound Future'." She turned to him. "I think I'd read it, if I ever stumbled upon it."

"I'd like to live it." he declared.

She smiled, but it faded quickly. "I'm sorry."

"I don't care." he answered, suddenly finding strength. "The funny thing with love is what it feels like… It feels like planting a knife in your heart when you're suicidal. It feels awfully good, but there's still the fucking pain behind it."

"I guess that's an accurate description." she agreed, turning her gaze away in guilt.

He smiled weakly. "And when the person loves you back, you love them even more, because you know the pain they're in… And you feel like this brings you closer."

"I know what it feels like." she whispered.

"I know." he said. "And I don't believe anything can make me love you more."

"Even though I'm the cause of your pain?" she asked weakly.

"Sure." he said nonchalantly, almost shrugging. "After all, you _are_ happy… And, for now, that's all that matters."

"Thank you." she said, almost crying.

"Please don't cry." he said, sounding exhausted. "It only makes everything so much harder…"

"When are they going to stop hitting us?" she asked with strength, starting to sob.

"Who?" he asked, his voice confused.

"The stones we threw, Sirius." she said. "All those stones we threw at each other to keep us together… We should have realised that the longer we stayed together, the harder it would be to keep away later, and avoid all this pain."

She cried for a while. When her sobs quietened, he declared: "One day, the stones will stop coming, Hermione. One day, we'll be looking at that pile of rocks at out feet and laugh. Then we'll build a wall with them between us, to keep ourselves from hurting each other."

"But I need you." she whispered.

He shook his head. "You think that now, when you're spreading your deck of secrets on the table, because you know you can't do that with everyone… But one day, you'll find someone else, who knows you the way I do."

She sighed. "I hope it will happen soon." she said.

He smiled. "I'm just your best friend, after all. It's not as if I was your soul mate, or anything." They laughed a little, before he sighed and said: "And for all this pantomime, you should see the state I'm in."

"I can't." she said. "And that's my problem. I know I'm hurting you, but I don't know how much… So I can't heal you. Only time can do that now."

He shook his head. "I can't heal myself with time alone." he said. "I have you tattooed on my skin."

-o-O-o-

That night, Sirius Black wished. He wished upon a star.

He was not a man to wish for things. He usually had them before he even wanted them. Besides, who wishes for something they could easily have? Or have at all?

Because, that night, Sirius Black wished for Hermione Granger to be his.

It was a selfish wish, one which completely ignored his brother's interests, but love renders blind not only to the other's faults, but to the surrounding people's pain too. It was also impossible, because he was cooped up and alone, and she was free… Free… Free…

He wished upon Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, the one after which he was named. "Please." he begged, glancing through his narrow window of his cell in Azkaban. "Please…"

Then he started to sob.

He didn't have anything else to say.

But Fate had heard everything. Sirius' love was pure and true, and she could only oblige.

And the space time continuum was disturbed once more.

-o-O-o-

"I... Thank you... I don't know what to say..."

Someone in the crowd shouted: "GROUP HUG!" and suddenly, all the Gryffindors, from 1st to 7th years, were huddled close around the newcomer.

Sirius was sitting on a couch, Marlene on his lap and some other random sixth year fawning over him, massaging his scalp. He vaguely heard Lily make her usual welcome speech, but he didn't pay that much attention to it. He was too busy inhaling the smell of these two heavily perfumed girls.

What? A group hug? He almost snorted. Well, that's what he called a ridiculous prospect. Besides, the new girl, for he vaguely remembered Lily mentioning that it was a girl, was probably an old hag. Not one you'd like to get close to.

And then he heard it.

Her laugh.

His eyes flashed open and he sat up straight on his armchair. Her laugh. It was as if it penetrated his very soul, as if those thousands of silver bells vibrated throughout his entire being, as if time and space itself stopped in the space of an instant to let Sirius Black think of one thing: this girl.

Her laugh was like music to his ears.

"Sirius?" Marlene asked, as her raven-haired companion stood up from the armchair walked towards where the girl's laugh had originated. He needed to talk to her _now_.

Unfortunately, no one was there. Oh, well, he thought as he shrugged, he would have to wait until morning.

And, ignoring the protests of the two girls, he climbed up the staircase to his dormitory.

There, Remus was reading and James and Peter were playing a game of Wizard Chess. "Hey, guys," Sirius started, planting himself in the middle of the room as if to make an announcement. "I'm in love." he announced.

"Wonderful, Sirius." Remus told him, disinterested and not even looking up from his book.

Sirius stared at his best friend. "Is that it?" he asked. "I declare my love for someone, you don't even know who I'm talking about, it could be you for all you knew, and all you say is 'Wonderful.'?!"

Remus sighed and looked up at the seventeen-year-old like one would if he were a decade older. "You fell in love last week." he explained. "And the week before. And the week before that, twice, if my memory doesn't fail me." He went back to his book. "Don't you think it's getting a little bit… Old?"

"But this is different!" Sirius explained, waving his arms around his head as if he was trying to help a Hippogriff landing.

"Sure it is, Padfoot." James said, knocking out one of Peter's knights. "Check. So was Alexandra… And Cynthia… And Anne… And Jane… Oh!" he said, looking up from the board to look at his best friend, an amused glint in his eyes. "And I almost forgot your latest one, Marlene!" He laughed and slapped his knee.

"Yeah, Sirius!" Peter piped in, moving his king to the left. "What are you going to tell her _now_?"

"You don't even know who I'm talking about!" Sirius said, pouting. He walked over to his bed and slumped down on it, sulking.

"Alright, Sirius." James gave in, looking up at the moody boy. "Who is it?"

"The new girl." Sirius mumbled, still not forgiving his friends.

"_Hello_?" James said, his eyes turning back to the chess board. "We want a name!" he added as though it was very obvious and should have occurred to him.

"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed, suddenly a little embarrassed. He scratched the black locks at the back of his head, a little nervous. "I, er… I didn't catch it." he admitted.

James burst out laughing and Peter soon followed. Even Remus smiled a little from behind his book. "Why am I not surprised?" the werewolf asked rhetorically.

"Not my fault!" Sirius defended himself as James moves his bishop to the right hand side of the chessboard. "I didn't even get a glimpse of her!"

"Oh?" Remus asked. "Than how can you know that you are in love with her."

"Well…" Sirius said, embarrassed once more. "I… I heard her laugh… And, Moony," he added, before they could laugh at him again. "Believe me, I felt it deep…"

"Yeah," James agreed as Peter moved a pawn forwards. "Deep down your _pants_."

James and Peter burst out laughing once more, and Sirius scowled. "Whatever." he declared, stripping down to his boxers and slipping underneath his covers. "What do you guys know about love anyway?"

"Heaps more than you do, Paddy, my friend." James said, moving his castle all the way down a row. "Heaps more than you do." he added, then stood up, stretched and declared: "Checkmate."

Peter scanned the board thoroughly and then cursed: "Oh, man! I was sure to win this one!"

-o-O-o-

After a little while, all the boys in the Gryffindor dormitories had fallen asleep. All? No. A certain Sirius Orion Black was still wide awake in his bed, thinking about the laugh he had heard.

It was plaguing his mind.

If it wasn't love he was feeling, then what was it?

He slipped out of his bed and walked to its nearest twin. He pulled the curtains away and poked its occupant in the shoulder. "Prongs." he said. Seeing that his friend wasn't waking up, he tried again, more forcefully. "Prongs!"

The other boy gasped and sat upright in his bed immediately, before grabbing his glasses and wand from his bedside table. "_Lumos_." he whispered, and slid his glasses onto his nose. "What is it?" he asked, a little panicky.

"I want to know what love feels like." Sirius admitted.

"Doubting yours already?" his friend snickered, before yawning and looking at the time on his pocket watch. "Wait a minute." he said, blinking rapidly as if that would change the time written there. "You wake me up," he started, sounding as though he was repressing very extreme anger. "At fucking half past fucking two in the fucking morning, to ask me what fucking love fucking feels like?"

"Well, yeah." Sirius said, as if there was nothing wrong with it.

"Are you out of your fucking _mind_?" he whispered so as not to wake anyone else up, sounding outraged.

"Now, James." Sirius said. "That's a whole lot of fucking. If you carry on like that, you'll get one of them pregnant. That would be ugly, now, wouldn't it?"

"I'll give you ugly." James muttered, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Please, Prongsie," Sirius pleaded. "If you tell me what it feels like, you can have my eternal gratitude!"

James sighed. "Fine." he gave in. "I guess… Love is sort of… Painful, but… Makes you feel happy." He looked at his friend, who looked extremely confused. James shook his head and continued. "It's at the same time, the thing you want the most and the thing you despise the most about yourself. It's pure joy, pure need to please, to be noticed, to be owned, even, by the person you love."

"Alright." Sirius said, nodding to himself.

"So?" James asked.

Sirius looked confused And arched an eyebrow at him. "So what?" he asked.

James sighed. "Do you love her? The new girl, I mean." he explained.

"Huh." Sirius said, turning away from his friend's bed. "I don't think so… But I am going to marry her, though." he announced.

James laughed and threw a pillow at his best friend. "Go to bed, weirdo. Try to catch some of the" he looked at his watch. "five hours or so hours of sleep we have left."

"Okay." Sirius said, and went back to his bed. He lay awake another five minutes or so before asking: "Hey, Prongs?"

"Hmm?" James asked, barely awake anymore.

"She'll be mine soon." he said, and, with this note of confidence and James weak laughter echoing around the circular room, Sirius Black fell asleep.

-o-O-o-

**As always, please leave a review for your author! :) Tell me your thoughts, hopes, dreams... They are always appreciated and I answer them, I promise!**


	2. Her Name

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

_Chapter 2_

-o-O-o-

The next day, the four Marauders got up at a reasonable time, by which I mean they were there for lunch, which was very unlike them, considering that it was the weekend. Nevertheless, they were all seated at the Great Hall table with the rest of their friends by midday.

"Well, that's a first." James said as the four buys sat down.

"What is, James?" Peter asked, already stuffing his plate with food.

"We're here before Evans is." he acknowledged.

Remus smiled from behind his Daily Prophet. "Of course _you_ would notice that." he teased gently.

James frowned, looking for a retort, and Sirius piped in: "Well that's a first!"

The three boys looked at him, confused. "What is, Padfoot?" James asked, his retort forgotten.

"Well," he replied. "It's a first for a lot of things." He took a gulp of Pumpkin Juice and continued: "First of all, Marlene's not here, demanding to sit on my lap."

"You're a pig, Pads." Remus said, going bag to his paper.

James snickered. "I think the word you're looking for is _dog_, my dear Moony." he said, and Peter broke into a fit of girlish giggles.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Second of all, we're here before the new girl is." he added, stuffing a piece of toast down his mouth.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." James went, waving his arms around his head and shaking it disbelievingly. "Whoa. Padfoot, we've been over this, mate. You're not in love with her." he reminded him carefully, as if he were some sort of fragile child that took time to understand things.

Sirius snorted. "I got that far." he said. "I just thought I ought to mention it."

Remus smiled. "You may not be in love with her, mate," he told his best friend. "But you've got some serious obsession there."

"You wouldn't happen to mean," Sirius said, a look of pure mischief on his face. "A _Sirius_ obsession, would you?"

"Oh, God, _Pads_." James said. "We've been through thus a million times! This joke is not funny anymore!" he told his friend, frowning at his, as if somehow disappointed. "Sirius, serious… We don't care that there's barely any pronunciation difference!"

"You know what stroke me the most?" Remus asked. When his friends shook their head, he added:"The fact that he didn't turn it into a sex joke."

"Good idea, Moony!" Sirius said, excited. "_Obsession_?" he asked mockingly. "I've got no obsession with that girl! Just her arse is all!"

"Who's arse are you obsessed about, Sirius?" a teasing girl's voice said from behind him. "It isn't mine, is it?"

He turned around. It was Marlene. "Hey, Marlene!" he said, smiling radiantly at her. "You're looking very beautiful today!"

And it was true. Then again, Marlene McKinnon was a beautiful girl. She had long golden locks that fell to the middle of her back and that bounced with every movement she made. Her hazel eyes shone whenever she smiled, and, when one looked too closely, one could see the dark brown specs in the middle of the chocolate brown. She had full red lips, an hourglass figure, was a C cup and filled the top of her skinny jeans rather nicely.

Those skinny jeans were black and she wore deep purple flats with them, to match the little purple blouse she wore. She was free of any make up and jewellery, save a little silver anklet near her left foot that jingled with every step.

She was, in one word, stunning. And hopelessly in love with Sirius. "Why, thank you, Sirius." she said, blushing prettily. "Mind if I sit on your lap?"

Sirius glanced at the other Marauders, as if to say: 'What did I tell you?' before turning back to Marlene and going: "Yes, sure, no problem." as he patted his left hip.

Marlene loved sitting on Sirius' lap, mostly because she loved feeling his hard muscles and that sitting on him was a very discreet and complete way to do it. She could move her bum and fell his hips, lean onto him and feel his abs, reach for something and brush against his biceps… The list was endless.

And Sirius Black most appreciated the attention. However, he was starving, and she was getting in the way of every reach for food he ever made. Every time, she was just _there_.

James saw that and smiled. "Trouble in paradise?" he asked tauntingly.

Sirius glared at him. "Fuck you." he swore at his friend, annoyed.

Marlene, who was not as stupid as anyone made her out to be, sighed and plopped down on the seat next to Sirius. "It's okay," she told him, not even looking at him. "I couldn't either anyway.

She served herself a large bowl of soup and started gulping it down avidly.

They stayed like that, eating in silence, while a couple of people sat down at the table, including Alice Spencer and Frank Longbottom. They came in holding hands and Sirius winked at Frank as a '_good job_' sign. Suddenly, James suddenly looked up. "Quick!" he said hurriedly. "Remus, how do I look?"

Remus didn't even look up to him. "Muss up your hair a bit more, it's too tidy." he advised his friend, knowing what he wanted to hear.

James took his fellow Marauder's advice and ran his hands through his hair a few more times, so that when Lily sat down at the table, he grinned cheekily at him. "Hey, Evans." he said.

"Potter." she replied, merely acknowledging his presence.

"Had a nice night?" he asked, smiling. "Beautiful dreams."

She looked up at him surprised. "Actually, yes, thank you for asking." She sounded suspicious, as if she knew he was going to make a joke about this, but couldn't quite see where it could be going.

She needn't have wondered. "Well," he said cockily, leaning back in his chair, that smile of his still plastered on his face. "You must have dreamt about me heaps, then, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "You wish." she said. "Actually, I think I'd rather dream about Mr. Filch than have dreams about you."

James looked positively shocked. "You don't mean that, do you?" he asked, sounding worried. "Please tell me you don't mean that, Evans."

She smiled. "Oh, but I am, Potter." she told him. "I am very serious."

"Did someone call me?" Sirius asked, his mouth full of toast.

James didn't even bother answering.

And, in any case, Sirius didn't expect an answer.

She had arrived.

He'd wanted to meet her ever since he heard her laugh the previous night. And here she was, with Mary McDonald. Her hair was bushy and she was rather short, but Sirius found her attractive nonetheless. Besides, he thought, his smile broadening, she was wearing a skirt, so he had a nice view of half her legs.

'_Not bad_.' he told himself. '_Not bad at all_.'

She sat down between Mary and Alice, and the chatter resumed as quickly as it had stopped. The girl on her left nudged her side. "Hey," she said, smiling. "My name's Alice."

Hermione looked up and shook Alice's hand. "I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger." she answered. Sirius smiled. He liked her name too. It sounded very… _Shakespearian_, but he liked it.

Alice's smile widened. "Yes, I heard all about you." she admitted, before turning to the rest of the table. "In fact, we've all heard all about you, haven't we people?"

The Marauders rolled their eyes and went "Yes!" all of them staring at Sirius.

She gave a nervous laugh and started helping herself to chicken breast. Alice poked her in the side and started pointing.

"That, on my left, is Lily Evans." Lily waved.

"I know her." Hermione said. Lily beamed. "She introduced me yesterday."

"You remember!" Lily gushed.

Hermione gave a cheeky grin. "Obviously, I'm not daft!" A girl on Lily's left snorted.

Alice rolled her eyes. "The girl who just practically inhaled her soup is Marlene McKinnon." Hermione got another small wave. "On Marlene's left is Frank Longbottom." Hermione gave a shy smile towards the boy, who promptly blushed and looked back down. "In front of her is Peter Pettigrew."

Her smile sort of faded when his name was mentioned, and Sirius wondered why. However, he promptly forgot about that when Alice continued her introduction.

"In front of Lily is-"

"No!" James yelled. "Let me do the rest of the introduction!" he said.

Hermione turned and to him and looked momentarily startled.

"I," he said, gesturing towards his chest in a royal manner. "Am James Charlus Potter," he winked. "The second." he added pompously.

Hermione rolled her eyes and Sirius almost snickered at that.

"To serve you, miss Hermione." he said and shot out to grab her hand and kiss her knuckles, while she smiled strangely and blushed , probably in embarrassment and at the mere stupidity of it all. Sirius thought it was a brilliant idea.

He let go of her hand and gestured to Sirius.

"This is my not-so-noble squire-"

"Squire?" Sirius shouted, although on a joking tone. "You're the squire! In fact no, you'll be my horse!"

James snorted and Sirius turned to her, their eyes meeting for the first time. There it was again, that feeling that ignited in his body, like it had yesterday, when he heard her laugh. He was honesty considering love again, before mentally shaking his head. He didn't love her. Instead, he quickly regained his composure.

"I'm Sirius Orion Black the Third, of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, at your service milady." He kissed her knuckles too. If James, who was infatuated with Evans, could do it, then so could he.

"Whatever." James huffed. "Don't listen to him, Hermione, he's totally lame."

Sirius slapped him behind the head for that, and his glasses nearly fell into his pudding. They both started chortling and bickering like twelve year olds.

"This," James pointed to a tall boy on Sirius' other side. "Is Remus Lupin, the first, I think…?"

Remus shook his head and gave her a half smile. "Is it alright if I just shake hands with you?" he asked her.

Sirius temporarily hated him for being so clean and proper and gooey and _ugh_! So perfect. He, Sirius Orion Black, was the only one who was allowed to be perfect. Especially around her.

"I personally think all this kissing knuckles things as impersonal and improper." he finished softly. _Gooey werewolf_.

Hermione took a while to answer. "Erm… Yeah sure." she stammered.

She held out her hand, and he shook it softly, his eyes never leaving hers. Sirius was staring at her, and her eyes met his again, for the briefest of milliseconds.

"Do you know if their over-inflated heads will fit in their silver helmets or not?" she joked.

Remus chuckled at this, but Sirius was quick to retort. "I don't know, but I can tell you about something else that is over-inflated around you." Hermione blushed crimson, and Sirius' laughter echoed around the room.

Suddenly a cold voice sounded from behind her. "It's not that I don't enjoy watching other people torture Mudbloods, Sirius, but I need to talk to you." Hermione turned to look at the one person Sirius hated more than Snivellus. Since when? Just then, when he called her the M-word.

"Regulus." Sirius said coldly, all traces of jokes gone from his voice. She looked slightly freaked out but he didn't notice. "What do you want?" he barked.

Regulus rolled his eyes. They were a shade of grey lighter than Sirius', sparkling with malice and taunt.

Oh, how he hated those eyes. And all that they represented, too.

"No need to sound so impatient, dear brother." he said, his voice sickly sweet.

"You are no brother of mine." Sirius warned coldly. "I left and that bitch you call your mother blasted me off the family tree, may I remind you."

Regulus arched a delicate eyebrow at him. "I recall introducing yourself to the Mudblood as belonging to the Most Famous and Most Ancient House Of Black, did you not?" he sneered.

"Don't call her that!" Sirius stormed. He would have stood up and hexed the little bugger's backside if James and Remus hadn't been holding him.

"It's okay, Sirius." Hermione whispered. She stood up and faced Regulus. She stared into his eyes defiantly, even though he was well over a head taller than her. "He's not worth it." she added, before shoving him away.

He looked disgusted beyond words. He was wiping the front of his robes, as if trying to get rid of germs. He looked back up at her, his face twisted in pure hatred. "You'll pay for this Mudblood!" he hissed, before storming away.

Wow. Well, that display of courage was certainly very unusual. Then again, she had been sorted in Gryffindor, so… Maybe he shouldn't be surprised.

Hermione sat back down and proceeded with eating her lunch. "Hermione?" She looked up at Sirius eyeing her carefully. "Are you alright?"

She smiled. "Of course I am. You'd see if I wasn't. I've been called worse."

"Oh…" he mumbled, before his cheerful grin went back into place. "That," he gushed, "Was bloody awesome." He held up his hand and she gave him a high-five. "I mean," he continued, "No-one's ever stood up to Regulus; especially not a girl. You should see how they all fawn over him!" he chortled. "It's ridiculous."

Hermione swallowed. "You mean, as ridiculous as all the girls who fawn over _you_?"

_Touché. Little kitten knows how to scratch, apparently._. A big "Oooooh!" went around the table and people clutched their mouths and shook their hands, trying to hold their laughter in.

Sirius ignored them. "No, because I give them what they want, and Regulus ignores them. He's as stupid as he is an arse. Mind you, Slytherin girls aren't exactly lookers, but he can't do better."

Hermione chuckle at this. They continued lunch uninterrupted, at least until desert, when a shy third year came up to Hermione and tapped her shoulder. "Miss Hermione?" the girl asked.

Hermione wiped her mouth on her napkin and turned. "Yes?" she asked sweetly.

The girl blushed. "Professor Dumbledore would like you to come to his office. He said that you would know the password and wishes to see you as soon as you finished eating, if possible."

Hermione nodded. "Thank you." she told the girl, who scampered off without anything else. She ate the rest of her cherry pudding and stood up. "Well, I better be off now." she said. "I don't want to keep Professor Dumbledore waiting."

Sirius stood up too. "I'll come with you. You never know when my brother might want to corner you." He was actually concerned for her. That was new. And strange. Not bad, but new… and strange.

She smiled. "I appreciate your offer, Sirius, but I think I can hold my own against him and don't need your help or protection. Besides, don't you have to 'give a group of girls what they want'?"

And as another round of "Oooooh" went around the table, Hermione smoothed her skirt and walked out the Great Hall, numerous pairs of eyes trailing her every move.

When she was gone, Sirius turned back to his friends. "Well," he said. "Wish me luck."

"Goodness knows you'll need it." Remus mumbled, before leaving the table and walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

-o-O-o-

**Here you go! Chapter 2! :) If you didn't know, my updates aren't really all that regular, but I'll do my best to give you a new chapter at least every week. :) As always, please review, and special thanks to the people who have reviewed (i..e: ptl4ever419, thank you so much!), read, favorited or followed this story so far. :D Have a nice day!**


	3. Full Moon Contemplations

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**In case you didn't understand Chapter 1 very well, I added a few sentences at the beginning which might help you. :) Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

_Chapter 3_

-o-O-o-

Hermione arrived in front of the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office and stopped. She looked around, checking to make sure that nobody had followed her nor could overhear the password.

Fortunately, she seemed alone. "Liquorice Wand." she declared. The gargoyle leapt aside, revealing the familiar stairs that lead to the Headmaster's office.

She climbed the spiral staircase until she stopped at the door. She gave a light knock.

"Come in." a voice said from the inside.

She stepped inside, closing the door carefully behind her before turning to examine her surroundings. Unlike the rest of the castle, the Headmaster's office was very different from the one in her own timeline.

Half of the Dark Magic detectors were missing, the desk was much more crowded with paperwork, bits of quills and lemon drops, and the Sorting Hat had less rips and tears than the last time Hermione had seen.

But the most surprising change was Dumbledore himself. "Ah, Miss Granger, I've been expecting you." he exclaimed. "Please," he said, gesturing towards the plush armchairs in front of him, "Have a seat."

She walked over to where he was pointing and plopped down easily. She mentally nodded. This Dumbledore had nothing to do with the Dumbledore she knew.

This one was bolder, had far more energy, was less wrinkly… To sum it up, he was much younger. Not just twenty years younger, no, but almost thirty.

As if the war had taken so much energy from him that it had added another ten years to his already impressive lifespan.

"Well then," he started. "Let us begin."

She waited for him to speak, but apparently, he was doing the same. "Let us begin by what?" she asked, trying not to sound too insolent.

He merely chuckled. "Why, I should say, by the beginning, my dear." he crossed his legs. "Now… When are you from? What do you intend to do here? Can I assist you in any way?" He looked at her expectantly, his blue eyes twinkling with anticipation.

She sighed. "I am from 1996. I was being chased by…" she couldn't possibly use the term Death Eater, it might affect the timeline. "Someone," she admitted reluctantly. "And I happened to run in the storage room where the Timeturners were. I decided to go back in time a couple of hours, but then I lost my balance and fell. Next thing I knew, I was waking up here."

She sighed and leaned back into her chair.

"What I intend to do here? Find a way back. I can't possibly stay. I can't alter the timeline in any way because it might result in… I'm not even sure what it could result in, but it sure won't be pretty. The longer I stay, the more chances I have of changing something crucial, not even doing it on purpose!"

She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for a bit, before Dumbledore's voice broke the silence. "You haven't answered my last question: Do you need my assistance, in any form possible."

She smiled slightly, her eyes still closed. "Do I need you assistance? No, I don't. Do I want it? Yes, I do." She opened her eyes once more, placing both of her hands on her lap. "Two will work faster than one, I guess."

He waited a couple of minutes, before nodding slightly. "I am afraid, Miss Granger, that Merlin's 17th law is formal: one cannot simply go to the future. As I have told you before, you can die, but you can't come back from the dead."

Before she could interrupt, he held up his hand in a sign of silence and continued.

"Besides, even if you do want to research for that, you are not going to do it all day. You need… Some sort of occupation. And if you wish to use the Hogwarts library, I suggest you resume classes here."

Hermione opened her mouth to object, but then though better of it. After all, didn't she need the Hogwarts library? It was certainly one of the best furnished in the whole of the United Kingdom, if not the best.

Come to think of it, the Malfoys' was probably very extensive… As would be the Blacks'…

Slowly, she felt a plan come up in her mind. As a grin slowly spread on her face, Dumbledore asked: "What about your O.W.L.'s? Where will you stay during these holidays?"

Hermione looked up at him. "Surely you could arrange for me to pass them sometime during the beginning of the holidays. As for the stay, well… I was wondering if I could just stay here. I mean, it's safe, there's nobody to go blabbering my secrets to, and I could even get a part time job in Hogsmeade."

Dumbledore nodded. "It's settled then. I'll talk to the Minister and explain your, ah, misadventure."

Seeing the look on her, face, he chuckled.

"Not to worry, dear, I will tell him your cover story, he'll buy it." he reassured her.

"But, what about the Unspeakables? Won't they tell the Minister?" she asked, slightly worried.

Dumbledore chuckled again. "Miss Granger, one thing about the Unspeakables, is that they can't speak about what they see in the Department of Mysteries. They are under the Unbreakable Vow; it's part of the reason why they are called 'Unspeakables'. In any case, I'll try and arrange a job for you at the Three Broomsticks. I'll go to Gringotts, to set you an appointment so we can have a vault opened for you."

She nodded. "Like that I won't be totally broke when I graduate." she translated.

"Miss Granger," he smiled, "I couldn't have phrased it better." And with that, Hermione stood up and, being careful not to harm the armchair in any way, placed it back and walked out of the Headmaster's office.

-o-O-o-

As soon as she was back in the corridor, she sensed something was wrong. She moved her hand to draw her wand, but found herself unable to do so as she was thrown brutally against the opposite wall, face against the hard stone.

Momentarily stunned, she heard a cold chuckle near her left ear. She felt something press on her windpipe and tried to struggle against it, but it only made it harder to breathe. "Well, well, well." the voice said.

It belonged to a boy who, judging by the weight he was pressing on her back, was either very fat or very burly.

"Not so bloody proud now that you don't have anyone to cover your back."

He tightened the thing, which seemed to be his arm, against her throat and she gave a half choke.

"You should know," he continued. "That nobody insults Black and gets away with it."

He shifted slightly, and Hermione saw it as an opportunity. She needed him just a little more to the right…

"Especially not a filthy little Mudblood like you." he hissed. His breath was putrid and for a second Hermione lost trail of what she wanted to do, before focusing again. "It's too bad that Dumbledore loses his new toy on its first day." he chuckled, and brought himself in the exact position she wanted him in.

She shoved her head backwards, hitting him squarely in the nose. He gave a howl of pain and took a step back, still holding her throat. She used the freeness of her legs to land a kick straight in his groin.

He finally released her, doubling over in pain as she gulped in a large amount of air. She considered hexing him, but thought better of it, as he was now sporting a broken nose and practically writhing in agony.

Instead, she settled for a warning. "If you come near me again," she hissed, putting as much venom in it as she could possibly manage. "I will positively kill you. Tell Black that if he wants to get back at me, he had better do the job himself and not let one of his idiotic mongrels do it for him."

She smoothed her robes and, just before she left, noticed a look of pure, burning fury in the boy's eyes. She ignored it and spun around, leaving him bleeding and whimpering in front of the headmaster's office.

-o-O-o-

Sirius Black was a dreamer. He'd never told anyone about it, but he was. That was why he loved art. It was another one of his little secrets that caused his family to disown him.

And, right know, he was dreaming about Hermione Granger.

Yes, he had surprised himself by managing to remember her full name so fast. Hell, he had learnt Marlene's full name only last year, and she'd been pining for him since third year.

"You know what?" he told no one in particular, even though most of the fifth and sixth year. Only James heard.

"What now, Padfoot, dearest?" he asked in a sarcastically sweet voice.

"I'm not in love with her-" he started, but James cut him.

"No, you're not." he agreed. "So stop talking about her."

"Let me finish!" Sirius whined childishly. "As I was saying, I may not be in love with her, but I will be… Pretty soon."

James snorted. "You a Seer, Padfoot?" he asked sneakily. "Wonder why you can't foresee your exam grades."

"Hey!" Sirius yelled, standing up so fast that he was temporarily blind. "I've got very good grades, may I remind you!"

Remus, who had been listening quietly, intercepted the conversation. "I agree." he said. "He and I got the same OWL results for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Transfiguration."

No one had the time to reply to anything, for Hermione walked in the room just then.

Her hair was worse than the usual bird nest she had, her neck was slightly bruised and she had quite a large amount of blood on the back of her head and neck. She sighed. "Got cornered when I got out of Dumbledore's office." she mumbled.

Mary ran over to her, while the Marauders and Lily followed. She took a better look at the new girl before gasping, both hands on her mouth.

After a while, she pointed at Hermione's hair. "Is… is that…" she stuttered, unable to get a proper question out.

"Blood?" Hermione asked. Mary nodded slightly, her eyes very wide. "It is, but it's not mine."

Sirius was worried. She got cornered? He wasn't used to feeling any kind of protective feeling, but there, he had to butt in. "I told you I should have gone with you." he accused her.

She turned to him. "I didn't get hurt." she said again, as if he hadn't understood.

He snorted. "I got that far." he told her. "But that's not an excuse. Had I been there, no one would have dared to attack you."

"I can handle myself!" she shouted at him, offended.

"That's not my point!" he shouted back. He was angry, but he didn't know why. She had been reckless and she could have gotten hurt. But she wasn't. What was going on with him?

She looked angry too. "Why do you care, Sirius Orion Black?" she hissed at him.

There was a pause. "I don't know." he murmured after a while. He stared right into her eyes and she looked away, swallowing.

Meanwhile, Mary was still as pale as a ghost. "Mary?" Hermione asked carefully. "Are you alright?"

The girl stood there, unmoving, a horrified expression on her face. Hermione waved her hand in front of her eyes, but all that did was mad her weep.

"Oh, dear." Lily said. She turned to face Hermione. "We'll talk about this later, you'll have to report this incident. You're new, this sort of thing shouldn't happen. As prefect, I'll help you from now on. But right now," she looked at Mary, who was still sobbing helplessly. "I've got to take her to the Hospital Wing."

"What's wrong with her?" Hermione asked carefully.

Lily sighed, as if she wasn't sure she should divulged this story, but told Hermione anyway. "Last year, she got cursed by a bunch of Slytherins. I know some of them… Like Avery was one of them, as was Snape... It was very Dark Magic that."

Lily shook her head.

"She spent three whole weeks in the Hospital Wing." she continued. "Since then, she hasn't been able to stand any form of physical violence, whether on her or not. When she sees it, she just bursts in hysterics and I have to bring her to Madam Pomfrey so she can have a Calming Drought."

She shook her head again and began to lead the crying girl out of the Common Room.

Hermione turned back to the others, who were looking at her expectantly. "Erm…" she started awkwardly. "It's not that I don't appreciate your company, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take my leave… Washing this mess out of my hair is going to take a while."

Sirius looked down. He could have made a dirty joke about joining her, but he wasn't in the mood right now. He was pensive. He didn't know what to make of his feeling for Hermione.

He wasn't in love with her. She wasn't in love with him. Yet, they pretty much just stopped talking to each other. They had just had their first argument, and they'd met less than a day ago.

Meanwhile, she had left. And Sirius Black was still confused.

-o-O-o-

That night was a full moon. He, Moony, and Prongs were roaming the ground of Hogwarts at night, having fun. After a while, though, they got tired, so they went and lay down near the lake.

Sirius rolled onto his belly and his tongue lolled out as he panted slightly. He was staring at the stars, when he got a strange tug in his belly. The same one he got when he looked at Hermione for the first time. Suddenly, he thought, no, he knew, that the stars had something to do with this feeling.

'_What do you want from me?_' he asked them in his mind. '_Why her? Why now? Why when I have everything I could possibly need, you give me a challenge?_'

After a long time of waiting for an answer, he growled, rolled onto his belly and stood up, walking back to the castle. Prongs soon followed, and Moony walked back to the Shrieking Shack.

The two Marauders walked back to their Common Room under the Invisibility Cloak, where they were greeted by Peter. "So," James asked when they got inside the dormitory. "Have you worked out your Animagus yet?"

"Almost." Peter said. "I think it's some sort of rodent, because I think I squeaked at one point."

"That might have been the normal you." Sirius teased, smiling.

"Funny, Sirius." Peter said, although by the look on his face, he didn't find this very funny at all. "Why don't you go play with your ball?"

Sirius growled. "Why, you little-" he started, walking towards the smaller man.

"Guys!" James interrupted. "We don't fight! It's part of the Marauder's rules!"

Peter huffed. "He started it." he tried.

"It doesn't matter who started it." James said. "I don't even care who started it, we just don't fight. That's why we made the rules, right?"

Sirius sighed. "Yes, it is." he agreed. "Sorry, Peter." he added, holding out his hand.

Peter shook it. "It's alright. I shouldn't have said that." he admitted.

"Guess I can call you Wormtail, now." Sirius said, smiling at his friend.

Peter smiled too. "You will, too."

James was smiling too. "Can't wait to tell Moony." he said, before glancing at his watch. "Oh, goodness!" he said. "It's almost five! Tomorrow is Monday!"

"I hate Mondays." Peter growled under his breath.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Who doesn't, Wormtail dearest?" he asked him, his hands on his hips.

Laughing, the three boys went to bed, and all three fell asleep very quickly.

-o-O-o-

**Please review! :) Thanks to SuperPotterWhoLockFan who reviewed the last chapter, as well as to all my readers and those who added this story to their follow or favourite lists! :D It's always appreciated!**


	4. Demons

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**I'm very sorry about the late update, but my computer broke down for three weeks and I couldn't even write this chapter. Anyway, enjoy!**

_Chapter 4_

-o-O-o-

The next day, the Marauders, and everyone else, for that matter, got up early to go to class. They arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast at half past seven, but Hermione wasn't there. It didn't bother any of them that much, as they thought she probably needed some rest after her arrival at Hogwarts. Or, maybe she wasn't even hungry.

The boys, however were very hungry. As James sat, wolfing down his bacon, Lily scrunched up her nose at him in disgust. "Do you _have_ to eat that much?" she asked, eyeing the pile that was still left in his plate.

James took some time to chew before answering: "It's because I have a bottomless stomach." he declared, before stuffing some more bacon into his mouth.

Lily shook her head. "Well, if it's bottomless, it's useless trying to fill it." she philosophised.

James swallowed suddenly and looked up wordlessly at her. Remus burst out laughing. "Good one Lily! That'll leave him thoughtful for at least a couple of days."

Just then, McGonagall walked to her House's table. "Good morning gentlemen." she said, her tone clipped.

Even Sirius thought she sounded annoyed. "Good morning, Professor." he said politely, as the rest of the table did the same. "To what do we owe this visit?"

"Professor Slughorn is calling in sick this morning. Your class therefore is cancelled and you may rest until half past ten." she told them. "I trust you don't have anything to do with this?"

"None at all." James said, holding up a hand in perfect innocence.

McGonagall looked at him sceptically. "Alright." she said after a while. "Well, if you ever do get an… Let's say insight on who might have done it, I suggest you come to me immediately."

The boys all agreed and she walked away, still unbelieving their statements. "Who do you think it was?" Sirius asked when she was out of earshot.

Remus sighed. "It was you, Sirius." he said.

"Me?!" he asked, actually surprised. "I didn't do anything!"

Remus raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Don't you remember that time when you put seven vomit flavoured Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in a bottle of brandy and gave it to him?"

Sirius thought about it for a while, before answering: "That was for Christmas." he said, finally.

Remus sighed. "It appears he hadn't tried it until today." He stood up. "Since we're starting early, I'm going to the library to revise a little for that Herbology test next week."

As he walked away, James called out: "Nerd!"

Remus flicked his friend away when the teachers weren't looking and Sirius laughed. "Love you Moony!" he told him, before he turned back to his breakfast. Then, he froze. "Wait," he said. "What Herbology test?"

Lily laughed. "You'd better go to the Library too." she told him.

"Yeah." he agreed, before digging back into his breakfast. "I'll go when I've finished my breakfast."

James rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up, Mr. Bottomless Stomach." Sirius retorted, digging back into his plate.

-o-O-o-

The Library itself hadn't changed much, in Hermione's point of view. It was still a bunch of shelves with heaps of books and dust on them. Madam Pince hadn't changed either; she was still the strict old lady Hermione remembered from where she came from.

The Library was just as furnished as the one from 1997, Hermione had noticed, relieved. She quickly went over to the ones one time travel.

They weren't much help, though, as she had already read most of them in her third year. Besides, none of them spoke about going more than a couple of hours back. According to one, the longest a person had ever gone back was just over four days.

Hermione groaned. Days?! She was speaking of years, even decades in her case. Not one of these bloody books could ever give her much help. She held her head in both hands, despairing.

Suddenly, she heard a soft voice from behind her. "Hermione?" Her head shot up at the sound of the new arriving person. It was Remus. He looked at her, a concerned expression on his features. "Are you all right?"

She stood up very fast, hiding the books she had been reading from him. "Yeah, yeah, sure!" she replied hastily. _Liar_, a small voice in the back of her head scolded. "I was just reading, because I woke up early." It was partly true.

"Oh…" he seemed unconvinced by her explanation.

She noticed the books he was holding. "What are these?" she asked, but before she got a glimpse, he hid them behind his back, sporting slightly pink cheeks.

She tried looking at him but he avoided eye contact.

"Look Remus," she started, but he still refused to look at her. "I won't tell anyone you've got strangely suspicious books and behaviour if you don't tell I've got suspiciously strange behaviour and books. Alright?"

He turned and looked straight into his eyes, as if judging her sincerity. Finally, he nodded. "Alright." he gave in.

"Brilliant!" she said, giving him a dazzling smile. "Now, was there anything you'd like to tell me?"

Remus opened his mouth to answer, but, just then, Sirius rounded a corner, looking like he was trying to evade something… Or someone.

"Sirius?" Hermione asked.

He looked at her and placed his index finger on his lips. "Shhh…" he whispered.

Hermione was about to ask why she was supposed to be quiet when she heard Marlene call out: "Siiiiriuuuus!" She rounded the corner Sirius had done a few seconds ago and exclaimed: "There you are!"

Sirius cringed but, when he turned back towards her, he was sporting a cheeky grin. "Marlene!" he exclaimed, sounding delighted. "You've found me."

She smiled up at him sweetly. "Yes, I have." she replied, before asking: "So, about Hogsmeade this weekend… Can I come with you?"

Sirius shrugged. "I guess, if you really want to." he agreed, although he sounded rather exasperated and put out.

"Yay!" Marlene shrieked, jumping up and down, clapping her hands. She stood up and pecked Sirius on the lips sweetly. "Thanks, Sirius!" she said, and walked off, a certain skip in her step.

When she was far enough, Sirius' shoulders slumped and he pouted like a child that had been disappointed at Christmas. He looked so ridiculous that Hermione laughed.

He glared at her. "That's not funny! We're going to have a girl in our Marauder meeting." he complained.

"Come on!" Hermione teased him. "Marlene's kind of cute, isn't she?"

"Maybe," Sirius agreed. "But she's kind of dumb, too."

"She's not!" Hermione defended her. "She's just hopelessly in love with you."

"But you'd have to be dumb to fall in love with Sirius." Remus told her.

She looked up at him questioningly. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you know." he said, scratching the back of his head. "Sirius isn't a relationship type of guy."

"That's enough!" Sirius interjected. "Please have this conversation when I'm not around."

"As you wish." Remus shrugged. "Anyway, since Marlene is coming, we might as well bring Hermione, right?"

"More female company?" Sirius asked. Then he thought about it. "Actually, that's a good idea. We could have a special 'with girls' outing… And they can keep each other company."

Hermione frowned at him. "That's not exactly very nice to say." she told him, but he just shrugged.

"I'm not a nice person." he told her sincerely.

She stood up, her face a little stiff and annoyed. "I'm just go and ask Dumbledore if I can come, but it should be alright."

"Yeah," Remus said. "Dumbledore's a nice guy, he'll surely let you. After all, you do need a little fun."

Hermione smiled a little, before regaining her angry-at-Sirius composure. "I'll just ask him, then." he declared, and walked off, leaving the two Marauders to the quiet setting of the Hogwarts library.

-o-O-o-

So Hermione found herself once more in Dumbledore's office, in the very same plush armchair as the day before. "Ah, Miss Granger." the Headmaster sighed, he twinkle in his eyes still there. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

She cleared her throat. "I'd like a permission form to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow, please sir."

He looked at her. "But, my dear, I am afraid that your guardian is the one responsible for giving out these notes." he tried to explain gently.

"That would be you." she retorted. "Since I am here I have no family whatsoever to count on, and I am staying at Hogwarts during my holidays. Since you are the watching over the building, it makes you my guardian."

He smiled. "Well, if you put it like that," he pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled on it for a few minutes before handing it to her. "Just give this to Professor McGonagall as you leave tomorrow."

She took the piece of parchment gingerly from the older wizard's hand. "Thank you." she said, smiling.

He chuckled. "If I may ask, Miss Granger, what do you intend to do in Hogsmeade?"

She smiled. "I'm just going to hang out with… friends." She hesitated on the term, as she had known some of them already, back where she came from.

"Am I right to suppose that you were already friends in your own timeline?" he asked, crossing his hands on his lap.

"Not exactly." she answered. His look pressed her to develop, but she refused. "I'm sorry, Professor, but I can't risk telling you any more yet. It might endanger the way things are supposed to be set."

There was an awkward pause, which Hermione disliked enormously.

Finally, she broke the silence. "When am I due to pass my O.W.L.'s sir?" she asked politely.

He sighed. "Around mid-July, to give you a little time to revise. Also, I have talked to Madam Rosmerta about you part time job. She has agreed to give you a serving role in the afternoons as well as a cleaning one after the closing, from Mondays to Fridays, not including Wednesdays. You will be paid two Galleons a day, if, I quote, '_the work has bloody well been done_'."

She nodded. "Thank you sir." she said. It wasn't much, but it could keep her afloat for the time being.

"Your appointment at Gringotts has also been taken care of. I will accompany you, just after your exams, so we can discuss the opening of your vault with the goblins."

She nodded in acknowledgement. He looked at her intensely, and she found it fit to leave. She pushed her armchair gently back and headed towards the door.

Just as she opened it, he called out to her. "Miss Granger?"

She turned around. "Yes sir?" she asked politely, not really wanting to hear what he was going to say next.

He stared unblinkingly at her with his sparkling bright blue eyes for a moment, but just as she was about to turn back again, he declared: "I would have appreciated it if you had followed Miss Evan's advice and gone and talked to some one about what happened yesterday, as you left. Please try to do that next time."

_There won't be a next time_, she thought, but instead, she answered obediently. "I'll do just that sir." before turning around and leaving the office once more. Thankfully, no one bothered her as she made her way back to Gryffindor Tower this time.

-o-O-o-

She was reading in front of the Common Room fire when someone poked her in the shoulder. She was so deeply entranced by the content of the pages she didn't notice and it wasn't until the person cleared his throat that she looked up. "Oh, hey James." she smiled.

"Wow." he said, grinning. "Never thought I'd meet someone else who likes books so much." he remarked.

"Really?" she teased. "Who's the other person?" He shoved his hands down his pocket, grinning suggestively. She rolled her eyes. "You're joking."

He laughed. "Yes, I am. I couldn't like a book to save my life." He shook his head. "Anyway, Remus told me you went to ask Professor Dumbledore for a Hogsmeade permission form. How did it go?"

"Oh, relatively well." she answered vaguely. "I've got it, if that's what you mean."

He shifted to his other legs. "No more trouble, I hope?" he asked, and behind all the jokes and the mischief in his eyes, she could see genuine concern.

"Nope." she reassured him. "Absolutely none."

"Oh!" he said, sounding relieved. "Well… I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." he said, and turned around to go to his dormitory.

"Yeah, see you there." she replied softly, before remembering something. "Oh, and, James?" he stopped in his tracks and turned around, a questioning look in his hazel eyes. "Lily, huh?" The blush now forming on his cheeks was all she needed to confirm her suspicions. She smiled up at him sweetly. "I'll see what I can do."

James grinned broadly. "Thanks, Mione, you're the best!" he exclaimed, hoping down the stairs to hug her tight, before scampering back up.

Hermione was so surprised that she didn't even scold him for the use of her nickname. She tried getting back to reading her book, but found herself unable to do so, as she felt his arms around her. They were really warm and friendly.

Decidedly, she slammed her book and vowed to do whatever was in her power to help James conquer Lily. He deserved it.

-o-O-o-

"Which books?" Sirius asked Remus that night, when both boys were alone in their dormitory.

The latter sighed. "Books about werewolves. I was looking for something to help with the pain." he admitted, bowing his head, ashamed.

Sirius sighed and ran his hand through his raven black hair. "What did she say?"

He shrugged. "Not much. She didn't sound suspicious, though." he added, as if that would make the situation better.

Sirius was quiet. Why? He had one thing running through his mind; or, should I say, one _person_.

"Sirius?" Remus asked. "Are you alright?"

"I…" Sirius said, before shutting his mouth once more.

Remus sat down on his bed, staring at his best friend. "What's wrong, Sirius, you've been acting kind of weird these past few days."

"It's Hermione." Sirius admitted bluntly.

Remus groaned. "Not her again!" he went, slumping down onto his bed, his hands covering his face.

"It's not like that!" Sirius yelled out. "I know I don't love her! Sirius Black doesn't love anybody! He doesn't need anyone! He's not superstitious, never got attached to girls, never wanted them too near, or understanding anything! Sirius Black liked being left alone when it came to that!"

Remus sat back up, his hands now on his lap. "And now?" he asked. "What's changed?"

Sirius sat down on his own bed, facing the werewolf. He suddenly looked exhausted. "I don't know." he admitted, sounding a little scared.

Remus raised an eyebrow at him. "Then… How have your feelings changed?" he asked.

Sirius gave a short laugh, more because of the ridiculousness of the situation than the awkwardness of it. "You're going to think that I'm crazy." he said.

"I know you're crazy." Remus said bluntly. "It hasn't bothered me that much since that ride in the Hogwarts Express, almost six years ago."

Sirius fidgeted nervously. "Well… My feeling are kind of conflicting." he admitted. "When I met her, I felt incredibly attracted to her. It was like I would for a normal girl, only stronger. Then, I got a little scared by those feelings when I started getting… interested in her safety, I guess. When she came back all bloody… Hell, that was scary. Then yesterday night, for some strange reason, I felt that what I felt had to do with the stars. It felt like Fate was pushing me to do things that I wouldn't normally have done.

"And now… Now, I kind of hate her. Well, not _her_, but what she evokes in me. I just want to keep away from her, you know? It's like… Like she was a beautiful demon summoned from my own personal hell to haunt me as a punishment for earlier deeds… And it's working a little too well for my taste." he finished.

Remus sighed. "Well, Sirius, it appears that you right." he said gravely.

Sirius froze. Hermione was a demon? "I beg your pardon?" he asked his friend, genuinely afraid.

Remus looked up at him. "You really are crazy." he declared, before bursting out laughing.

Sirius smiled, relieved, but was angry at his friend. "You retard!" he yelled at him, throwing a pillow in his direction and missing pathetically.

"You should have seen your face!" Remus chortled. "You almost shat your pants!" he added, before going back to his laughter.

James burst in the room, screaming at the top of his lungs. "_I'm going to marry Lily Evans!_" He started tap-dancing and repeated this sentence again and again, sounding very happy indeed.

Sirius sighed and slumped down on his bed, exasperated. "Saint Mungo's, here we come." he muttered, and placing his hands over his ears to block out Remus' laughter and James' yelling and dancing, ineffectively.

-o-O-o-

**Please review! Thanks to SuperPotterWhoLockFan, Alessandra.12, Thrae Elddim and Hermione-Fan (who should get an account so I can answer him/her!) for reviewing the last chapter! I always take the time to answer reviews, so feel free to leave one! They are always very much appreciated! :)**

**Fun fact: If you like Sirius and Hermione together, I wrote a one-shot with this pairing called 'The Cliff', so feel free to check it out! **


	5. Under The Sky

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**That came a little earlier than expected. :) But, then again, it's just a combination of bits from chapters in my other story from which this is taken... Chapter 6 should be out Thursday. Anyway, enjoy! **

_Chapter 5_

-o-O-o-

"Hermione?" a voice on her right asked. The girl in question groaned slightly and pulled her covers over her head. She heard a sweet laugh and decided to take a peek. It was Mary. "You're so lazy it's unbelievably funny." she declared, before starting to giggle madly again.

Hermione sat up, stretching her arms as far as they would go. "What's so important?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. She hadn't slept that well; still slightly giddy when she climbed in her bed, it had taken her a while before she could calm down and sink in deep slumber.

"Have you forgotten already?" Mary asked exasperatedly, shaking her head. She was dressed in a tight blue blouse and a cute black skirt that was too short to belong to the school uniform. "It's the Hogsmeade outing! Your first one, with that too! Aren't you excited?"

Hermione stood up hurriedly. "Crap!" she swore. "I don't know what to wear!" she dashed towards the bathroom and desperately tried to brush her hair, to no avail. She ended up with her brush stuck in her wild curls, when Mary came in.

She gasped. "Hermione!" she ran over to her and slowly detangled the wooden brush from the bird's nest that Hermione called her hair. Once that was done, she asked: "Why don't you try smoothing it down?" Hermione grumbled something. "Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Mary said softly.

"Because nothing works on this." she said, gesturing to her head.

Mary shook her head. "At least one thing works on every hair, Hermione. We just have to find what works on yours."

Hermione thought about it for a while. "Sleekeasy's Hair Potion works. But it takes way too much time to put on."

Mary tapped her chin for a couple of seconds, before smiling suddenly, her eyes sparkling. "Wait here." she said, and she dashed out of the bathroom.

Hermione heard a little bit of shuffling, before Mary barged back in a spray in hand.

"This," she held the spray up. "Is a recipe o my grandmother's, and it acts just like Sleekeasy's… but it's much easier to apply."

She walked over to Hermione and started spraying the potion all over her hair. When it was covered by a copious amount, she started massaging Hermione's s scalp and hair, as to let it sink in.

After a couple of minutes, she stopped and said: "Now, all you need to do is rinse it."

Surprised but happy, Hermione waited for Mary to leave the room before stripping and stepping in the shower. She rinsed the potion which, surprisingly, had an innocent smell of violets. She stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel, while she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." Hermione called out, and Mary stepped inside the steam filled room, some clothes in hand. She stepped back out and Hermione dressed, wrapping a towel around her hair, before going back out.

She was wearing a short sleeved white blouse with a navy skirt that came down around half of her thigh. As soon as she was out, Mary bustled over to her, unwrapping Hermione's hair from the towel.

She grabbed the discarded hairbrush and began to smooth her hair. Surprisingly, no particular knot offered any resistance whatsoever.

When Hermione's hair was smooth, Mary pulled out her wand and began do dry her hair with magic. When she was done, Hermione's hair was as straight and soft as it had been the day of the Yule Ball.

"Wow." she said to no one in particular, catching of piece of her hair and examining it. It was slightly longer than she remembered, almost going to her waist.

"I know right." was Mary's reply. She stared at the other girl for a moment before asking: "Can I braid your hair?"

Hermione was bewildered. "Yeah, sure." she answered. Mary looked positively beaming. She wasted no time in grabbing her hair and twisting it in numerous ways, so that a couple of minutes later, Hermione was left with a French braid, with just a couple of strands escaping stylishly to frame her face.

Both girls giggling madly, they left the Common Room to have breakfast. Both of them knew how a lot of people would be surprised by this change. And both of them would enjoy it dearly.

-o-O-o-

As Hermione passed the door of the Three Broomsticks, a strong smell of alcohol hit her. Sirius stopped for a second, breathed in deeply and sighed.

"Hah! The smell of the essence of life…" All of them rolled their eyes and sat down at a rather large table in the back of the room.

A waitress soon approached them. She looked in her early twenties, with dirty blond hair tied in a messy bun at the back of her head. Her smile looked suspiciously false as she asked: "What will it be, ladies and gentlemen?" with a sickly sweet voice.

Sirius grinned. "Rosie, dear, there is no need to go with the formalities." he told her, leaning back in his chair.

"Sirius!" she gasped, obviously surprised by his presence, before putting her smile back into place. It looked more genuine now, though. "You'll take the usual, I presume?" she asked.

He laughed boisterously. "Obviously! When have I ever taken something else?"

She giggled slightly and turned to the others. "Will it be Butterbeer for the rest of you?" she asked.

There were slight murmurs of "Alright", "Fine" and, in James' case, "I wonder if Lily likes Butterbeer…", as Rosie, which Hermione strongly suspected was the younger version of Madam Rosemerta, counted the rest of them, before heading back towards the bar.

Hermione turned to Sirius. "Just out of curiosity, what's the usual?" she asked.

He merely grinned cheekily. "You'll see." he declared, before giving a slight chuckle. Remus, James and Peter rolled their eyes.

Hermione had a strange feeling that told her that this 'usual' was probably something very unreasonable, very stupid, very childish… Very Sirius-ish, basically.

When Rosemerta came back, it was with six bottles of Butterbeer and a huge pitcher, full to the brim with Firewhiskey. "You can't be serious!" Hermione shrieked when Rosemerta placed the pitcher in front of Sirius.

He laughed again. "Actually, that's my name." he said, laughing at his own joke.

Ignoring the pun, she declared. "You won't be able to drink that and return to school sober." She shook her head.

His eyes sparkled. "You want a bet?" he asked. "Five Galleons that I can drink that _and another one_ and be more sober than you at the end of the outing."

She shook her head. "I don't have five Galleons on me." she told him seriously. In fact, she didn't have five Galleons at all, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Fine." he said. "If you win, I give you five Galleons. If _I_ win, which I most certainly will, you have to give me a kiss." He smirked at her evilly. "And not just any kiss: I want a full blown snog, alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll take your bet."

"Deal?" he asked to make sure, holding out his hand.

She grasped it and shook it. "Deal." she declared firmly. Sirius was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well," James said. "Now that it's over, I suggest we toast. To Hermione's arrival!" He said, holding his drink up.

"To Hermione!" they all said, holding their drinks up, before taking sips.

"To me, I guess." she said, taking a large gulp of her Butterbeer.

They put their drinks back on the table, and James started, licking his lips. "So… Hermione, when I first saw you, you thought my name was Harry… Why's that?"

She sighed. "Harry was my best friend, back where I came from. He looked a lot like you… He had messy black hair, glasses…"

"So what made you realise I wasn't him?" James asked, out of pure curiosity.

She smiled sadly. "He had green eyes. Bright emerald green eyes that inspired faith and courage… He was a hero, and he was like a brother to me."

Peter spoke up. "Why don't you bring him here, I'd sure like to meet him."

She stared at him for a while, before replying with an emotionless voice. "He's gone." It was a simple sentence, yet it meant so much.

Sirius took a large gulp from his pitcher. "Oh well… To Harry!" he said, and they all toasted to her unknown friend.

-o-O-o-

"No, no, no… You got it all wrong Prongs…" Sirius slurred drunkenly.

Hermione was feeling as though she was going to win the bet. He was only half-way through his second pitcher and totally intoxicated.

"It's the Weasley… who goes to the library… and he says: 'Can I 'burrow' this book?' Get it? 'Because… Because the Weasleys live at the Burrow!" He said before bursting out laughing.

James giggled giddily too, being slightly tipsy himself. They had all asked for a small glass of Firewhiskey when Mary had suggested a toast to the end of the school year.

They had all drunk it, except for Alice, who had left earlier with a blushing Frank Longbottom. Sirius had already been slightly drunk then, but by then, he was completely wasted.

"Hey, hey Prongs!" he giggled. "You know what else is funny? It's that… you love Lily, but she doesn't love you, when I can get any girl I want!"

He burst out laughing once more.

"And you," he pointed at Peter. "You're a sneaky little rat, you know. You have to transform to go to the girls' dormitories, when they invite me in!"

His boisterous laughter was seriously getting on her nerves. Besides, he was the only one laughing.

"And Moony!" he shrieked, gulping down some more Firewhiskey, sloshing a large amount on his shirt. "He's really funny! I compare him to a girl all the time, because every month, girls get their period, and Moony, every month he-"

"_Stupefy_!" Hermione yelled, pointing her wand at Sirius.

He suddenly stopped in his sentence, freezing in space as his head simply fell on the table, knocking his pitcher over. Remus and James were as white as ghosts, staring at their best-friend who had almost, although not on purpose, divulged a secret that was not his to tell.

Slowly, their heads turned to Hermione, who still had her wand out and pointed across the table. "I…" she stuttered. "I… I gotta go." she said suddenly, rising so fast that her chair toppled over. She quickly walked out of the bar, numerous pairs of eyes staring at her.

Once she was out, she noticed how the sky was slightly dark. It was still reasonably warm, though, and so Hermione set off, intending to go back to Hogwarts. She stopped in her tracks, though, when she became aware that she was being watched.

A gust of wind hit then, and suddenly she was not so warm anymore. She turned around to face a dark hallway, and through the shadows of the walls, she could make out the shape of a person.

That person seemed to have realised she was watching him, because it walked out of the alley and into the sun. Hermione nearly gasped.

It was Regulus Black.

He was smiling. In fact, no, he was merely sneering, but not at her. His light grey eyes glinted with mischief and the way he stood seemed to portray great amusement. He was wearing a thick black velvet robe, under which he seemed to be sporting Muggle clothing: a grey shirt and a pair of black jeans.

"Like what you see?" he asked playfully as she noticed she had been staring. "Not that I can blame you, of course. I _am_ devilishly handsome."

"Yes," she agreed. "Devilish seems to be an adequate adjective to describe you."

He chuckled. "I didn't come here to bicker, you know." he added after a while.

She tensed. "Really?" She clutched her wand tighter inside her palm.

He took a step towards her. "No need to look so afraid." he taunted.

"I'm not afraid." she answered, and it was true. She had seen worse than him. She just felt more in security with her wand held close.

He arched an eyebrow delicately. "Oh really?" He shook his head and took another tantalising step towards her. "In any case, I came here to thank you."

"Thank me?" She was truly surprised at this statement. "For what?"

"Why, for the stunt you just pulled in the bar." he explained, nodding towards the building in question. "I daresay, my brother needed someone to show him his place. I am rather disappointed it was you, though. I was hoping for someone a little… cleaner."

"Jerk." Hermione muttered under her breath.

That guy could say a compliment without referring to blood purity. He seemed to have heard, though, because a second later he had thrown his head back and was laughing wholeheartedly.

Another gust of wind broke out, then, making Hermione shiver again. Regulus looked at her for a while, as if debating with himself, before he walked over to her, taking off his cloak and placing it on her shoulders.

She stopped shivering immediately.

His cloak was very warm, as were his hands when they grazed her shoulders. "Why are you doing this?" she asked suspiciously.

He shrugged. "I have manners. Besides, I'm not entirely evil; I do enjoy taking care of dirty little lost kittens like yourself." he smirked.

"Git." she said, this time audibly. He smirked.

They stayed like that for a while before he broke the silence. "You were on you way to Hogwarts?" he asked her.

Her head shot up. "Yes! Oh, god, I've probably missed my carriage-"

"Yes, you have." he told her simply.

She gasped. "You've done it on purpose, haven't you?" she demanded, hands on her hips.

He smirked, looking up at the sky. "Maybe." he taunted.

"Ugh!" she cried out. "I can't believe I actually thought you were halfway decent for a second! I'm so foolish!"

He was still staring at the sky. "No, you're just a Gryffindor." he answered, as if it was something elementary. "Dear lord, looks like I'll have to walk you back, then." he declared, looking back at her.

"No!" she cried, outraged. "I've had enough of manipulating for today! I am walking home alone and going to bed." she declared, stomping her foot to prove her point.

He arched an eyebrow. "I'm afraid that if you won't let me, I'll have to stalk you." he said simply, as if there was imply no problem whatsoever with stalking young girls that late at night.

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't." she growled menacingly.

He stepped closer so he was towering over her. "I would." He looked straight into her eyes. "You know I would." he added softly. There was no hint of menace in his voice, no venom, but no joking either.

She glared at him for a couple of minutes. "Fine." she gave in. "Just… Let's get out of here."

"For once, I agree with you." he said, and they set off towards Hogwarts.

They were both very silent, not only because they had nothing to talk about, but because neither of them had the will to break this non-verbal truce between them. Regulus had thrown his head back again and was now staring at the stars.

When they were about half-way, he inhaled to start speaking. Hermione braced herself for whatever insult he had found to hurl and her, but instead, all he asked was: "Do you know a lot about stars?"

She was slightly surprised at his question but answered nevertheless: "Not too much, they remind me of Divination." she explained.

There was another pause, during which he still stared at the now very dark sky, before he declared. "I know quite a bit about them. This one, for example," he pointed at a rather bright star. "Is called Sirius. The Dog Star…" he laughed. "Rather fitting, don't you think? Although, he was never quite that bright."

She giggled slightly.

"That one," he pointed to another. "Is one of my favourites." They were very close to Hogwarts, then, already inside the grounds. "I was named after it, you see?"

She considered making a joke about his narcissism, but instead just asked. "Is it called Regulus, then?"

He turned to her. "No." he answered softly. "It's called Arcturus." Seeing her puzzled expression, he developed. "It's my middle name." She nodded understandingly.

"It sounds good together." she said, trying to make a compliment.

He smirked. "I know, right?" he joked.

Although, Hermione was not entirely sure it was a joke. She shook her head, but his eyes never left her face.

They were entering the castle when he finally asked. "What's _your _middle name?"

"Jean." she replied, starting to climb the stairs. "Hermione Jean Granger."

He turned his attention back to where he was walking. When they neared the Gryffindor entrance, he said. "It sounds good."

She was positively shocked. He turned back to her with a huge smirk on his face.

"For a Mudblood." he finished.

She actually smiled at the insult. "You nearly had me there, Black_" she declared, before starting to laugh.

He was still smirking. "You should have known better, Granger." he replied, before turning around and stalking off.

It was then that she remembered something. "Black!" she called out, and he stopped to turn around, giving her a puzzled look.

She jogged a little to come up to him, before taking off his cloak and handing it back to him. As it changed hands, Hermione took a whiff of it, and was surprised to find it subtly perfumed.

She had expected a pompous arse like him to literally cover his cloak with the most expensive fragrance in the world, but he hadn't.

Before she let go of the cloak, she got a glimpse of his eyes. They were no longer deeply repulsed by her very existence. Instead, they were merely curious.

Once he had his cloak back, he gave her a curt nod and left, leaving a very confused Hermione in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Later that night, Hermione kept her word. She directly went to bed. But as she tossed and turned in her sheets, an idea formed in her mind; she still wanted to go back to her time, and to do so, she needed sources she hadn't yet checked.

Sources which were not necessarily legal or Light Magic… She needed a source like the Black family library. She smirked as her last coherent though formed in her mind.

It was time to befriend Regulus Black.

-o-O-o-

**As always, please review! My usual thanks to readers, people who added this story to their alert or favoutie lists! No one reviewed the last chapter, which I was pretty upset about, as five people reivewed chapter three. Anyway, I'd like to warn you that I'm not doing this again, I don't update unless I have at least two review, but since no one reviewed the last, I'm not updating until I have at least three one this one, or two on both. There you go! You have been warned! :) Anyway, have a nice day!**


	6. Understanding

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**I'm sorry this was a little late... Okay, VERY late, but this week has been hectic and... Yeah, enjoy. :)**

_Chapter 6_

-o-O-o-

Sirius Black woke up in his bed with one, bad, head splitting, brain-trampled-by-bulls-and-then-got-shot-fifteen-times-before-being-hit-by-a-truck headache. It throbbed like there was no tomorrow.

He moaned and rolled over in his bed as he squeezed his eyes shut. "It's your own fault, you know." he heard a voice say.

He opened one of his eyes to find Remus gazing down upon him, an amused glint in his eyes. "I think I'm dead." he told him, his voice barely more than a croak.

His werewolf friend cocked his head to the side, puzzled. "Dead?" he asked.

Sirius nodded, then winced as he felt his brain give a painful throb. "Only hell can hurt so much."

Remus smiled. "Well, you're half right." he joked. "After all, Hermione the 'demon' cast the Stupefy curse on you"

Sirius was about to answer, except he realised that he didn't know what to answer. "Stupefy?" he asked.

Remus shook his head, laughing slightly. "You were drunk last night, Padfoot. No wonder you don't remember." he told his friend.

"Hmm." Sirius said, sitting up. "How drunk?"

"Very." Remus told him.

"Like, James' 15th birthday kind of drunk?" Sirius asked, stretching his arms up in the air.

Remus shook his head. "More like his 16th." he told him.

"Oh, wow." Sirius said, his eyes opening wide. "That must have been awful."

Remus cleared his throat. "Yeah, about that, Pads," he started. Sirius felt dread rise up in his throat. "You almost told Hermione about my lycanthropy yesterday night."

There was a moment of silence. "Well, fuck me sideways." Sirius said, gaping at Remus. "I… I'm so sorry Moony, I… I…"

"It's okay." he reassured his friend. "I said almost." Seeing Sirius' confused look, he added: "She Stupefied you before you could say it."

There was another silence. "Well," he said after a while. "That's a happy coincidence, isn't it?" he asked.

Remus looked thoughtful as he answered: "Yes… A coincidence." Sirius was about to ask him what he was thinking about but his head quickly snapped to his Animagus friend. "I think you should apologise to her." he said.

Sirius gulped. Apologising was never an easy or natural thing for him to do, and he didn't look forward to it. However, he knew that it had to be done, and so yielded to Remus. "Alright." he sighed. "I'll do it this morning, but only if all of you guys come with me."

Remus looking at him curiously. "Why would we need to come?" he asked.

Sirius looked slightly embarrassed as he answered. "I need moral support, Moony." he whined. "Please?"

Remus sighed. "I guess I can see what we can do."

Sirius gave him a half grin. "You're the best, Moony boy!" he thanked him.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Duh!" he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole planet. "Someone in this Marauder organisation has to be the brains or we'd always get caught!"

Sirius snorted. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

Remus looked at him pitifully and answered: "You're a good guy, Sirius. Never forget that."

Sirius glared at him. "Arsehole." he told him.

Remus grinned. "Yes, you're that too." he teased.

-o-O-o-

Hermione woke up early that morning, feeling very monotonous, almost robotic. She wondered why that was for a long time, until she realised what day it was. She was sipping her coffee quietly when she came to that realisation: it was the last day before the holidays and the others were all leaving tomorrow.

She also came to the realisation that she was going to be very lonely for the next two months. Busy and taken, but lonely. After all, she had her appointment with the goblins, her work at the Three Broomsticks and her O.W.L.'s to pass again, much to her regret.

She therefore started the day very moodily. To her cure her grumpiness, she took a trip to the library after her breakfast finished. She didn't even glare at the Slytherins as she left the Great Hall.

Once in the library, she felt much better. She breathed in the scent of books with her eyes closed and when she opened them, she was smiling. She picked a book out of a shelf randomly and opened it to the first page. _Most ancient Pureblood Houses and Their History_, the cover read. The first chapter was on the Black family.

She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice the arrival of four figures, hiding behind a bookcase. They deliberated quietly for a few minutes before one of them stepped out, irritated at having to be the spokesperson.

He ruffled his raven hair a little and advanced awkwardly towards the reading girl. "Err… 'Mione?" he asked.

She looked up from her book and the boy. "Oh, hey Sirius." she greeted him when she recognised him.

He looked very stressed, as if something was bothering him. She wondered what it was for some time, until she remembered the thing he almost let slip the day before.

He gulped down hard. "Look, I'm really sorry about yesterday." he started. "I was totally wasted and I said some stupid stuff because I was trying to prove myself, to show you I was tough and… well, I ended up being really mean to James and Peter and… Oh, god, Remus!"

He looked really ashamed of himself, and he started biting his knuckle.

"I nearly said some awful stuff about him, and, I swear, if you hadn't cursed me, it would have meant the end of him." he released a dry sob, and she couldn't help herself.

She put her book down on her chair, stood up and embraced him. Well, sort of embraced him, because she only reached about his shoulder, so her arms were wrapped around his waist.

He was surprised at first, but soon enough, he returned her hug, and they even swayed a little. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply.

"It's okay, Sirius." she told him. Her voice was slightly muffled by his shirt. "Everyone makes mistakes. I'm just really happy you accept yours."

He had calmed down and was now no longer biting his knuckles. "I'm such a monster." he said, holding her tighter.

She detached herself from him. "Don't say that, Sirius."

Her voice was soft, but she knew he wouldn't disobey her.

"You are one of the bravest men I've ever met. You can take things most people would break down if they happened to them. You're one of the most intelligent, too. You don't follow others like sheep, you think about what's asked of you. You even went against your own family to achieve that independence."

He smiled slightly.

"No matter how hard you might try to convince others and yourself, it's a really hard thing to do. Where I come from…"

He inhaled sharply, and she knew why: it was the first time she spoke of her past willingly.

"Where I come from, there was a man I knew like that. He had abandoned everything he had, conscious of the consequences, for his friends and his beliefs. After that, he lost the life he had built himself because of an unjust accusation. He spent twelve years of pure torture paying for that. Here, it's an equivalent to twelve years… In Azkaban."

Sirius gasped. "Twelve years? And he never lost it?"

She shook her head. "He came back." she continued. "He came back to put things right and punish the real culprit. He didn't manage to do it, but I had the privilege of meeting him. And despite all that Fate had thrown in his face, he could still smile." she smiled to herself. "He could still laugh, and no matter how much he enjoyed denying it… He could still love. And I have always admired him because of that."

She held her hand up next to his cheek hesitatingly, before stroking it gently.

"You remind me so much of him." she whispered.

He leaned against her hand. When she pulled it away, he grabbed it and kissed it gently, staring directly into her eyes. His own silver pools were showing so much tenderness she positively melted.

They stayed like that for a while until they heard someone clear their throat. Sirius groaned and turned around, to find the three other Marauders staring.

"Way to go, chopped liver!" Remus cheered, as James and Peter stared at him strangely.

James winked at his friend. "We knew it, Padfoot!" he said.

And, with that, the three Marauders ran off. Sirius scratched the back of his head. "Well," he said nervously. "I do _not_ know what that was about."

Hermione laughed. "Right, Sirius." she said, rolling her eyes.

Sirius tried to look pained. "What makes you think I had anything to do with this?" he asked.

"My dear Sirius," Hermione smiled. "You are always up to something."

He took a step closer to her. "Am I?" he asked tauntingly.

"Yes." she defied him.

Sirius felt something burning up inside him at her words. He arched an eyebrow at her as he took another step towards her. "Well, then," he whispered sultrily. "What am I up to now?"

"I didn't say I ever knew what you were up to." she whispered softly, but he was so close that he could hear her perfectly.

He arched an eyebrow at her. _One step closer_. His mind was whirring. He didn't know what was happening, or why, or even how. He was just aware of her, so close, just a couple of centimetres. "Would you like to know what's going on in my mind, Hermione?" he asked her, his eyes burying themselves in hers.

She didn't answer, but he moved his face closer to hers. Her eyes fluttered shut and he stared at her lips. They looked so plump, so ripe, so kissable… He moved closer and closer, his body taking over his very reason. His feelings were incredible, they were pulling him towards her, closer, closer and closer…

Then, something clicked.

His _feelings_ were driving him towards her? Since when did his feelings decide? There was never an unstoppable pull towards anyone! Since when did Sirius Black have feelings anyway? Sirius may often lose his cool, but that was only in the anger department. When it came to girls, _he_ was the one who attracted _them_, not the other way around!

Meanwhile, Hermione had opened her eyes once more. "Sirius?" she asked, looking up at his angry features.

"I have to go." he said abruptly, and stormed off without an explanation, leaving Hermione stunned.

_It's a plot_, he thought. _Someone's plotting against me, this is unnatural. This shouldn't be happening. It must be some kind of potion, or a curse…_

As he mulled this over, stalking through the corridors, he noticed that he had arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait. She smiled at his handsome features and asked: "Password?"

"Flobberworm Mucus!" he snapped at her, and she stared at him, appalled. Nevertheless, with nothing but a disapproving frown, she swung forward to let him in.

Not caring whether anyone saw him in that state, he rushed towards his dormitory room and slammed the door behind himself. He then closed his eyes, grabbed his hair and pulled at it forcefully, groaning very loudly.

"I take it that she refused to kiss you." James said.

Sirius didn't answer, but he shook his head.

"No?" James asked, sounding surprised. "Then, what, did she tell you she was lesbian?"

Sirius shook his head again.

"Was it _that_ bad a kiss?" James asked again, sounding unbelieving.

"There wasn't a kiss at all!" Sirius burst out, sounding extremely pissed off. He let go of his hair and opened his eyes, just to glare at his friend.

James looked surprised. "But you said she-" he started, but didn't get the opportunity to say it.

"She was fine with it." Sirius said, still glaring. "Being all cute and perfect, but I…" he stopped abruptly, not really knowing how to continue from there on.

James stared at him. "You," he said, pointing at Sirius. "Pushed her away?"

Sirius sighed. "Yes." he admitted.

James looked baffled.

"Don't laugh." Sirius warned.

James shook his head. "It's no laughing matter." he said. "Something is really wrong with you. Why did you do it?"

"Well…" Sirius said, sitting down on his bed. "I was getting carried away and… I don't usually… Not in that way… It's as if _she_ was controlling _me_."

James sighed. "You panicked?" he asked.

Sirius scratched the back of his head foolishly. "Yeah." he admitted.

James raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Why?"

Sirius slumped back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Remember when I met her?" he asked, instead of answering the question.

"Yes." James answered, not quite sure where this was going to get him.

"I was so sure it was the same as every other girl I had ever met." he explained. "It was the same… Fire, I guess, as Marlene or any girl, for that matter, had ever ignited. Then, it grew… I got scared, and tried to ignore it… Ignore the fear that spread when it did too…"

"Not very Gryffindor." James commented, but Sirius just sat up and glared at him.

"Then, when I was about to kiss her, the fire spread… But it spread too much, too fast…" he continued, standing up and walking across the room. "I _needed_ to have her; I just _had_ to kiss her…"

"Isn't that normal?" James asked.

Sirius shook his head. "No, I couldn't control anything… And then I realised what was happening. I was no longer in control of my mind, or my body…" He turned to face James, fear on his face. "We're not alone, Prongs." he told him.

James looked puzzled. "Sure we are, the room's empty." he told his friend, but Sirius shook his head.

"No, it was like… Like I wasn't the puppeteer, just the puppet, like I wasn't pulling my own strings." he said, sounding panicked. "Something's happening to me, Prongs, and I'm sure someone else had tricked me or something."

"Padfoot…" James said, standing up.

"Imagine!" Sirius exclaimed, ignoring his friend. "Someone's poisoned me, I could drop dead any time now! Or I'm under some sort of spell, the Imperius curse, or… Or maybe…" He breathed heavily as he ran out of steam.

"Pads…" James said calmly, placing his hands on Sirius' shoulders. "Stop freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out." Sirius defended himself.

"Right." James said sarcastically. "And I'm the Queen of England." He laughed, before returning to a serious face. "Point is, you, Mr. Chopped Liver, are in love."

"I'm not-" Sirius started, but James cut him.

"You are, Padfoot darling." James said, theatrically wiping a tear from his eye. "It's your first time, so you're freaking out. I suggest that you stay away from Hermione for the time being, just so that you can calm down."

He let his hands fall and went back to his bed. "But…" Sirius tried, gulping down. "But I'm not in love… After all, I would know, right?"

James sighed, exasperated. "Sirius," he said calmly, using the boy's actual name for the first time in a while. "You are in love with her, and for that I wish you good luck trying to repair what you did today."

"But… No!" Sirius feebly argued.

"Jesus, Padfoot!" James said, glaring at his stubborn friend. "If you're not in love, then what is it? Some plot from Fate to try to get you to hook up with her?"

He laughed at the absurdity of the idea and slumped down on his bed to listen to Wizard Rock. Meanwhile, Sirius whimpered pathetically.

-o-O-o-

Sirius took up James' advice and avoided Hermione for the remainder of the school days. Hermione, although she wondered what had caused his outburst, was perfectly content with the prospect of not having to talk to him ever again. After all, she _had_ almost let him kiss her. And that was awfully embarrassing.

And so, when she accompanied the Marauders to the train station, they might have seemed to be a perfectly united group, save for the fact that Sirius and Hermione were deliberately ignoring each other. The four of them climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express and took place at the compartment which had its window facing the place where she was standing.

She waved them off, promising to write a lot, before walking to the back of the train, so as to exit the platform. On her way, she felt someone staring.

She turned to her right and was not surprised to find Regulus smirking at her from a compartment window. "What do you want, Black?" she asked, really not in the mood.

"Nothing." he answered. Somehow she doubted his sincerity; he was always after something.

"Oh really?" she asked tauntingly. "I guess I'll be off then."

She turned and started to walk away, before he called out: "Granger, wait!" _Ha!_ she thought_. I knew it!_

She turned back to him and stared at him, trying to look annoyed. "What, Black? I don't have all day."

The smirk looked harder to keep up as he answered. "Have good holidays." After a while, he added. "They might just be your last."

She was surprised, to say the least. "I…" she stuttered. "I… Thank you, I guess."

The train started chugging and moving very slowly. Regulus' face showed panic, before he focused on her, looking menacing. "You'd better write, Granger." he growled. "Because otherwise, I will kill you."

She knew better than to cower in fear. "Sure Black." she said, rolling her eyes. She started to follow the train at a slow pace. "You better write too!" she added, starting to jog. "Because otherwise, I will kill you!"

She started running then, until she reached the end of he platform, and she remembered something.

"Hey Black!" she cried out at his retreating form.

"Yeah?" he yelled back.

She put her hands around her mouth to sound louder. "Don't do anything stupid!" she yelled as loud as she possibly could, before agitating her hand in the air as if she wanted to make a plane land.

She saw him shake his head and wave slightly, before he put his body back in the window and was gone. She hoped he would take her advice.

-o-O-o-

**Here come my usual message: Please review! Special thanks to the people who added this story to their follow or favourite lists, as well as to those who merely read it, and _very_ special thanks to my reviewers who stick to this story although I'm not the nicest person in the world: TheSpringLover (my old friend, good to have you back!), Love-Mione-Fanfics, AuntieL, Hermione-Fan and another guest; :D Thank you!**

**And, thanks to my new, unofficial beta: Love-Mione-Fanfics! The best at correcting my furious typos... :) Thank you!**


	7. True Darkness

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**My usual thanks to my lovely readers! I love you all! :) Also, thanks to those people who added this story to their Follow/Favourite lists, you guys help me get well known! :D Last, but not least, thanks to my beautiful reviewers: Love-Mione-Fanfics (who is also the best unofficial beta the world has ever seen) and Hermione-Fan! I love you the most!  
**

_Chapter 7_

-o-O-o-

_Dear 'Mione, _

_I hope you're having good holidays, and Dumbledore isn't too hard on you. _

_I wish you good luck with your O.W.L.'s (I'm not meaning to scare you but they're really horrible). Only ten days to go!_

_If you ask yourself why I'm not writing anything about me in this letter, it's because I'm bored out of my mind and nothing exciting is happening._

_Anyway, have good revisions (that must be hard), _

_Lots of love,_

_Lily._

* * *

_Dear Lily,_

_I'm having fruitful revisions, thank you, although my Ancient Runes are giving me a lot of trouble._

_I've got to find the courage to go through the last nine days of this! _

_Hope you fare well, love,_

_Hermione._

_PS: Dumbledore is being very nice about it, and he says hello._

-o-O-o-

_Dear Hermione,_

_I hope you're having a nice time and you aren't working too hard. _

_You can still dream about beating my results, anyway, if it makes you feel better. _

_But I bet you can't beat them! I got ten O.W.L.'s, six O's and four E's. Try beating that, hah! You'd have to learn the whole Hogwarts library by heart (like I did) and I bet even you can't do that in eight days._

_Good luck!_

_Remus._

* * *

_Dear Remus,_

_Believe me when I say I will beat your O.W.L. results. I know you're probably rolling your eyes and scoffing, but when I do get them, you'll be sent a copy. Just to prove a point._

_I am the best. Better get used to that idea!_

_James invited me to his place, but he hasn't contacted me yet. In fact, you and Lily are the only ones who have written so far!_

_Well, at least I know I can count on you two. Although, I am expecting to hear news of Mary very soon! Soon, as in, before my O.W.L.'s come._

_I'm really stressed, but I've only got seven days left! Love,_

_Hermione._

-o-O-o-

_Dear Hermione, _

_I'm sorry I didn't write sooner, but my dad's been sick (don't worry, he's okay now) and I've been trying really hard to advance on schoolwork._

_I'm sorry if I'm interrupting one of you revision sessions. I know I hated it when someone interrupted me. I just hope you can work a lot during these last six days before the exams!_

_I can practically see you bite your nails at this. Keep cool, girl!_

_Don't forget to breathe!_

_Mary._

* * *

_Dear Mary,_

_You're right, I hate being interrupted too. It's a good thing your owl came at breakfast, then! _

_I'm writing this as dinner is being served. It's a lot of fun being alone with the Headmaster. I got to know the House Elves, they're really nice! I am surprised they are happy about being enslaved, though…_

_I guess House Elves and Divination are the two things I will never understand, they lack any logic. Only five days to go!_

_Good luck with your schoolwork! Love,_

_Hermione._

-o-O-o-

_Dear Hermione,_

_After much deliberation with my mother, I managed to convince her to let you stay at our place during the last week of the holidays._

_Don't think she didn't want you to come because she didn't like you, she said me and Sirius (who's living at my house) had better be… er… proper, if you get my drift._

_Anyway, I managed to convince her I only had interest in Lily (no offence intended) and she is absolutely convinced Sirius is an angel._

_I know right, what the hell? I'm more of an angel than Sirius will ever be!_

_Have fun and reply soon!_

_James._

_PS: Only four days until your O.W.L.'s! Good luck!_

* * *

_Dear James,_

_I asked Dumbledore and he said okay for the last week of the holidays. I wasn't planning on working anyway._

_I may have O.W.L.'s to revise but I don't have any holiday homework! In your face!_

_I'm sorry, I'm feeling a little giddy today… How are things progressing with Lily? I bet you haven't once written to her, you insensitive git! Do it now!_

_Only three days left, love,_

_Hermione._

_PS: No offence taken._

-o-O-o-

_Granger,_

_Don't expect me to apologise for not writing, because it would be a lie. And I know well enough not to lie to girls. You see, unlike my dearest brother, I am capable of brain activity and have the ability to think._

_I did mention that I wanted you to write first, though. I do know better than not write to you, too, because then you would have my head off._

_I can't really be angry at you anyway, since I know you are revising for your precious little O.W.L.'s, and I really shouldn't over-exert that Mudblood brain of yours. They're only two days away, eh?_

_My mother would have my head off for writing to someone like you, but I'll take my chances._

_Until your reply comes, _

_Regulus Arcturus Black._

* * *

_Black,_

_Are we on a whole name basis now? If so, then let me rephrase my beginning._

_Regulus Arcturus Black,_

_There, better? Good._

_I'm not sorry about not writing to you earlier either. Don't you dare say I should, either._

_My O.W.L.'s are tomorrow, and I'm preparing for them eagerly. Dumbledore says I should keep cool, but I can't find it in me to follow his advice._

_Go ahead, make fun of me all you want, but I don't even care anymore._

_I'll just make myself a cup of coffee and send you this letter, then._

_Nice owl, even if it tried to eat me._

_Hermione Jean Granger._

-o-O-o-

_Dear Lily/ Remus/ Mary/ James/ Regulus Arcturus Black,_

_I've done it! I've passed my O.W.L.'s! I'm so glad all of this is over! I'm pretty sure I did well, although I think I mixed up the date of the Blood Purity Convention… It was the eighth of September 560, right?_

_In any case, I'm heading off to Gringotts right now, so I'll be able to open a vault. I'm starting work next Monday, and I think it might be boring… Oh, well, I'll have to wait and see!_

_Love,/ Until later,_

_Hermione./ Hermione Jean Granger._

Hermione copied that letter five times with magic, erased the bits that weren't meant for the same person, and sent them off with five different school owls. Each hooted a little at the time she was taking to tie them up, but she eventually set them free.

She watched them fly off into the sunset, wondering how she would survive the next month with only letters to keep her company.

-o-O-o-

The man tightened his long black cloak around himself as he accelerated the pace. His long, silvery blond hair flew behind him as he roamed the streets of London. The Dark Lord had sent him on an important errand that day, and he didn't want to disappoint him.

As he walked past number 10, Grimmauld Place, a building started to appear out of thin air, pushing those next to it to the side. The man smiled. This was going to be easier than he thought it would. He climbed the couple of stairs that led to the door and gave a light knock. After a few minutes, a light turned on behind it and the door opened, revealing the surprised face of a middle-aged woman. "Lucius?" she asked, disbelieving.

The man smirked and lowered his hood. "The one and only." he admitted. "Good evening, Walburga. You look charming, as always."

The woman pinched her lips together. "What are you here for, Lucius. Surely you know Narcissa no longer stays here."

The man shook his head. "As a matter of fact, Walburga, it is not Narcissa whom I am looking for. I'm looking for your son."

Her face darkened marginally. "Regulus?" she asked, her voice tightening.

"Of course." he amended. "I was unaware that you had another."

She threw her nose up slightly in the air, before calling behind her shoulder. "Regulus Arcturus Black!" she yelled. "You'd better come down here soon. You have a guest!" she turned back to Lucius once she heard moving footsteps upstairs. "What do want with him?" she asked.

"It is not me who is in need of him Walburga," he admitted. "But the Dark Lord himself."

"The Dark Lord?" she asked, disbelieving.

He nodded. "He would like to _offer_ Regulus a place amongst our ranks." he stressed the verb to make it clear he wouldn't take no for an answer.

However, that was not the part Walburga had noticed. "_Our _ranks Lucius?" she asked. He nodded, and pulled back the sleeve of his cloak to reveal his Dark Mark. Most people cowered in fear when they saw such a sign, but Walburga merely stared in fascination. When she looked back up at him, she gulped. "I was unaware you had joined this movement." she admitted.

He pulled his sleeve back as a boy came rushing down the stairs. "Well Walburga," he said as Regulus went to stand next to his mother. "I can only hope you are happy for your son."

She gave a tight lipped smile. "I am." she said, and actually sounded so.

"Mother," Regulus questioned. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, a wonderful thing, Regulus dear, a wonderful thing." she told him, stroking his hair lovingly. "You have been chosen to join the ranks of the Dark Lord. You will rid us of all the scum that layers the Earth, oh! My hero!" she kissed her son's hair, even though he was taller than her.

"All right, now, Regulus." Lucius said. "We don't want to make the Dark Lord wait any longer." Walburga let go of her son and he, now wrapped in a black velvet cloak, stepped out of the house. His mother closed the door after him, still smiling.

The two men walked down the street, and finally Regulus found his voice. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Lucius chuckled darkly, making the younger man shudder. "We're off to the hideout, of course." he stopped suddenly, and Regulus almost bumped into him from behind. "Take my hand." he said, holding it out. "I'll Apparate us there."

Regulus took he blonde's hand cautiously, not feeling very reassured. They twirled together and he felt as if he was being squeezed in a rubber tube. A way too tight, rubber tube. It only lasted for a second, but when his feet touched the ground again, he started panting and clutching his stomach, wanting to retch all over the place.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Lucius said, not even looking back at him. Regulus held in another wave and looked up. "The Dark Lord does not appreciate wimps."

Regulus took a deep breath and steadied as the urge to vomit receded. He stood up, still breathing heavily, and looked around. He recognised the place instantly: his cousin Cissy had often told him about it, and how this was where she wanted to live when she was older. Even though he had heard about it, it was still a shock to see.

Lucius smiled. "Yes, I rather like my place, too." he declared smugly, before starting towards the gate. Regulus followed. The grounds were huge, but gloomy in the dark of the night, and the sixteen year-old boy half expected a hag to jump out screeching. The inside wasn't much better either. All that dark polished wood seemed too heavy, too dense… It just didn't feel right.

But what scared Regulus the most was the high, cold voice that he heard coming from the dining room. As both men entered it, silence installed itself. Half-terrified, half-admiring, Regulus noted the presence of known faces, some coming from his own family; his cousin Bella was there, as was Cissy. Severus Snape was there too, like Avery, Crabbe and Goyle. Most of their fathers were present as well, although Orion Black himself was missing.

"Ah, Regulus." a hiss came from the end of the table.

His eyes travelled towards its origin and he almost wanted to puke again. The man had a gaunt, pale face, with sunken features and bright, crimson eyes. His dark hair was shiny, but it lay too flat on his face to make him look like anything other than a corpse. He may have been handsome once, but that time was far gone.

"We have been expecting you." His voice was barely more than a whisper, yet everyone in the room could hear it loud and clear.

Regulus shuddered inwardly and threw himself to one knee, facing the ground. "My Lord." he acknowledged his presence.

"Yes, Regulus." the voice came. It sounded inhuman, almost snake-like. "You have been called here to have a chance to join this fight against the filthy blood that taunts us and dirties the land of our fathers. Would you like such a place?"

As he registered the words, another voice popped up in his mind. '_Don't do anything stupid_'. He breathed heavily and cursed Hermione Granger for saying that to him. "It would be an honour, My Lord." he said, trying to ignore the Mudblood's voice in his head.

"Stand up, Regulus." the voice said. The Slytherin did as he was told, and was once again faced with the abomination that ruled this place. Lord Voldemort stood up too, and declared with his snake-like hiss: "We will now proceed with the initiation."

All the Death Eaters stood up, then, and followed the Dark Lord out of the room, and into a corridor. Regulus followed the movement. As they walked down to the dungeons, Bella came up to him and declared.

"You did well, Regulus." she was not much older than him, a couple of months, at the most, but still wore her mark proudly by the hem of her sleeve. She was rather small, but her extremely curly hair made up most of the height difference between them. "I am proud to call you my cousin."

Regulus' thoughts drifted to Sirius, then, and his voice rang in his ears: '_You are no brother of mine!_' He shook his head. "Thank you, Bella." he said. "It means a lot to me."

She nodded and went back to take her place at the top of the line. The whole crowd entered a large, circular room, where a stone hostel stood in the middle. The tiled floor was littered with different layers of blood, although Regulus did not want to think about whose it may have been.

The Dark Lord sat down on a throne in the far side of the room, and declared: "Now, let the ritual begin."

Lucius came up to him and said "Take off your shirt." Regulus removed his cloak and shirt, leaving him only in his trousers and shoes. He shivered slightly as Lucius took his clothing and placed it in a corner of the room. The humidity of these dungeons could be felt and he wondered whether he would be sick in the morning.

Bella took over after that. She took his hand and led him to the hostel and motioned for him to lie down. As he obeyed her wordless command, he was reminded of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, with Madam Pomfrey fussing over him as he argued with her. She held both of his arms out and strapped all of his members tightly to the stone hostel, before regaining her place among the ranks.

The Dark Lord waved his wand, and some stones on his right started moving. Once they formed a large hole in the wall, the Death Eaters around him started chanting a gloomy incantation.

Lord Voldemort made a spitting, hissing sort of noise and out of the wall slithered a huge, black snake. Regulus' blood froze. The thing was about a foot thick and over ten feet long, with a head the size of a football, although not as round. He tried struggling against his bonds, but he was too tightly strapped.

The chants increased in volume as the creature inched closer, slithering to the left of the stone hostel. Sweat broke out on Regulus' forehead despite the cold, and Granger's voice rang in his head once more. '_Don't do anything stupid!_' He almost wanted to punch that girl. What's her definition of stupid anyway?

The snake obeyed its master's command and raised its head for it to come to about Regulus' height. The latter noticed the darkness of the reptile: It was darker than a shadow at night in a dark room. Pure black, so dark you could barely see the outline of its scales.

Granger voice was repeating itself now. '_Don't do anything stupid!_' The snake opened its jaws to reveal two shining fangs, as long as cutlasses. At this sight, Regulus almost fainted.

The chants got louder and louder, but he hardly noticed, what with the snake positioning itself high above his left forearm and Granger's voice still saying: '_Don't do anything stupid._'

Suddenly, the creature's head snapped down, embedding both fangs deep in his flesh. Regulus' back arched of the table and he let out a piercing scream, the chants still getting louder.

'_Don't do anything stupid._' He felt the venom seep through his veins, although he could no longer see a thing, his eyes clamped shut as the agony wracked his body in waves.

'…_do anything stupid._' The creature didn't appear to be moving, both fangs still pouring more and more venom in his bloodstream. Amongst the chants, he could hear something else, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

'…_do anything stupid._' The bonds seemed to tighten around his wrists and ankles, or maybe it was just his thrashing that made them dig in his flesh.

'…_anything stupid._' The pain was becoming so intense his eyes opened with the speed of light and he managed to shut his mouth, biting on his tongue and drawing blood to be able to catch his breath.

'…_anything stupid._' Voldemort's cold laughter rang around the room, but he could barely discern it from the increasing volume of the chanting, now more sounding like hysterical screeching.

'…_thing stupid._' He twisted his head to the side as he choked on his own blood, splattering it on the snake's face. It didn't seem to mind.

'…_thing stupid._' He saw with horror the ebony venom seeping into his flesh, forming the distinct outline of the snake and skull and he started thrashing again.

'…_stupid._' Granger said. '_…stupid…stupid…stupid._' The chants reached an end. Voldemort stopped laughing. Pain, pain, pain. Slowly, although that was just a matter of perspective, the snake extracted its fangs from Regulus' forearm and went to lie back down on the cold stone tiles. '_…stupid._' Blood started seeping from the two perfectly circular holes on his arm. '_…stupid._' Voldemort was grinning from ear to ear as the snake slithered back in its lair. '_…stupid._' Regulus looked back at his forearm.

The Dark Mark pulsed.

Everything went black.

-o-O-o-

**As always, please review! Reviews make me happy and update faster! :D And I always answer them... Unless you don't want me to, of course. :)**


	8. Freefall

**Disclaimer:**** Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**I'm very, very, very sorry this is so late... Hopefully it's a good enough chapter to get you to forgive me. :/ Enjoy!**

_Chapter 8_

-o-O-o-

Most of the holidays were a bore for Hermione. She spent her days getting up, having breakfast, going to work, having lunch, back to work and back to Hogwarts for dinner and bed time. She barely had the time, or the want, really, to read. Weeks passed in that fashion, so that only the occasional Peeves joke or drunkard at the Three Broomsticks gave her day any spiciness to it.

Thankfully, it was almost the last week of the vacation which, apart from meaning that she would soon get back to classes and work, also meant that she was going to have a little more excitement to her days again. Besides, she would be seeing James again, and he was great fun. Remus would be there too, in case she needed intellectually stimulating conversation. Peter would probably be staying over too, and so would…

She gulped.

And so would Sirius.

It would be sort of strange to have him there, and probably very awkward too. After all, she still didn't know what she would say to him if he brought up the subject of the almost-kiss. Maybe now, half an hour before departure, was a good time to practise.

"Well," she started, staring at her reflection in the mirror of the girls' dormitory.

She felt so foolish, talking to an inanimate object, but she couldn't just go there unprepared. She cleared her throat and tried talking again.

"Sirius," she tried. "No, no, that's not going to work…" she convinced herself, shaking her head before looking back at her reflection. "About… the incident," she said uneasily, but decided to not interrupt her speech anymore, no matter how ridiculous she sounded. "I think it was a mistake. We got carried away and, thank God you stopped us because otherwise we'd have done something we would both have regretted later. I guess…"

She gulped down and looked at herself. She looked the same as always, bushy hair, tiny figure and dull brown eyes that had seen too much. What was there to be attracted to? Sirius was handsome, with his soft, styled raven hair and silver eyes. His large hands just seemed to be made to caress and touch skin, his broad shoulders were meant to be gripped tightly, his chest to be stroked with a velvety passion…

She shook her head. That minute of being carried away had taken all of her reason away from her. "I guess I'm not made for you and you're not made for me, which is why we're better as friends." she concluded.

She stared at herself for a while, until her clock chimed. Sighing, she grabbed her bag, for she hadn't packed her trunk for just a week's worth of staying over, and exited the dormitory. She clambered down the steps to the Common Room and placed herself in front of the fireplace. There, Professor Dumbledore had placed a pot of Floo Powder, from which she took a pinch. She threw the Floo Powder into the fire, which turned a bright emerald green, and stepped inside.

The flames licked at her tantalisingly, teasingly, but never painfully. She grabbed her bag tighter and said: "Potter Mansion, Godric's Hollow."

She felt a familiar feeling of being sucked into the fire place. The travel was rather short, although that was just another matter of perspective. Soon enough, she found her feet hitting the ground. A cloud of ash rose up and tickled her nostrils, and she sneezed.

"'Mione!" she heard, as she stepped out and dropped her bag on the floor. She looked up and caught a flash of grey fabric before she felt herself enveloped into a hug.

She smiled and looked up, only to find the brilliant amber eyes of Remus Lupin sparkling at her. "Hey Remus!" she greeted, before pushing him away gently. "Where are the others?" she asked him as she noticed, looking around the room, that she was alone with the werewolf.

Remus made a funny face, as if he smelled something bad. "Broomsticks." he spat haughtily as an explanation.

Hermione smiled. "Boys will be boys." she told him, shrugging.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"And Remus will be Remus," she added, tapping his shoulder gently, as if she was reassuring him.

He rolled his eyes at her and gestured towards a staircase. "Right this way, my lady." he told her. He picked her bag up and they walked up the staircase. Hermione felt rather intimidated because it was huge, made of marble and unnaturally clean.

She cleared her throat. "And why are you not joining them?" she enquired.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, smiling. "Me and broomsticks… A love story gone wrong, I'm afraid." He turned to face her. "You've not seen me on a broomstick, have you?"

She shook her head as they continued climbing the stairs. "That explains all." he said evasively.

"Remus!" she scolded him. "Now I want to see you riding one! You're a bad boy, exciting my curiosity like that!"

He smirked. "So you really want to see me on a broomstick?" he asked as they took a turn into a dark corridor, it walls covered in tapestries.

She thought about it for a while. "Actually, maybe not. You'd probably fall on me and kill me. On purpose."

He looked at her, feigning shock. "Miss Granger, your attitude is most certainly not entertaining!" he said as they stopped in front of a door. She laughed and she smiled, pushing the door open. "Here's your bedroom." he announced.

The room was large, at least compared to any other bedroom she'd seen before. The walls were a plain but warm beige, the ceiling red and the wall in front of the door was almost completely covered with French doors, from which she could see a large field-like garden, neatly surrounded by a forest. On the left side of the room stood a large king-sized bed, with cream sheets to match the walls and ruby red pillows. On the wall on her right was a very tall wardrobe, red like the ceiling and the pillows, in which she could probably store all her clothes and more. There were two red sofas to her right, one on the same wall as the wardrobe and one on the perpendicular one. The overall was gorgeous, of course, modern and stylish.

"The door on your right," Remus said, pointing to a red door Hermione hadn't noticed before, standing proudly on the wall on her left. "Leads to your private bathroom."

She just nodded, slightly overwhelmed.

She heard him place her bags on the floor and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "How about we go find everybody else, huh?" he asked, and she nodded again.

"This place," Hermione said as they walked back down the palace-like stairs. "Is huge. It's like a castle, really."

Remus laughed a little. "Wait until you visit the grounds; _then_ you'll wonder how big it is."

-o-O-o-

Once she and Remus were on the emerald green lawn, Hermione could fully appreciate the extent of the grounds. The property of the Potters was itself, much alike a small country. As she gaped around in awe, she heard someone squeal: "Whoo-hoo!"

Remus smiled. "Here comes James!" he announced.

And, sure enough, there was a 'whoosh!' of wind and the black-haired boy landed gracefully in front of his werewolf friend. His hair was even more tousled than before, if that was even possible, his Quidditch robe was ruffled and he sported the most mischievous grin Hermione had ever seen.

"Hermione!" he greeted her, enveloping her in a hug.

She smiled at his obvious happiness of her presence. "James!" she returned, hugging him back.

Once the two of them had broken apart, Remus asked: "Where's Sirius?"

But James didn't have the time to answer, for Sirius had already appeared at his side, his hair just as messy as James' and his robes in need of a good ironing. "Remus!" he yelled, deciding that noisy encounter were better than silent ones.

Feeling slightly awkward in this situation, Hermione cleared her throat. "Nice flying James." she remarked.

He smiled at her. "Thank you." Then, as if he couldn't help himself, he added: "I know. I am the best Chaser on the team, after all."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you are." she said reassuringly.

James sneered at her. "I actually am." he declared. "In fact, I'll challenge you to a race any day!"

Hermione froze. "No, James, it's okay, I believe you!" she tried, but he noticed that he had hit her weak spot.

"What?" he asked tauntingly. "Are you afraid of flying?"

She perked her nose up. "Absolutely not!" she defied him. "I'll take you up on your challenge if that's what it takes to prove it to you!"

"Excellent!" James smiled. Just then, Peter arrived, huffing and puffing at the effort he had just given to get this far.

"Remus! Hermione!" he greeted them when he was close enough to notice that the both of them were there.

"Hey, Peter!" James apostrophised him when he was close enough. "Would you mind letting Hermione borrow your broom for a race? She seems to think that she can defy me."

"Erm…" Peter went, unsure of what his answer should be. Then, he mentally shrugged and handed his broom to the proud girl.

James slid his leg over his broomstick and Hermione did the same. "We'll go five times around the Manor." he told her. "First to set foot on the ground after those five turns wins the race. Deal?" he asked her, just to be sure.

"Deal." she said, her face hard with pride.

He smiled, but his smile had a hint of cruelty in it. "Alright. Take-off in three… Two… One… Go!" He kicked the floor and soared up in the sky.

Following him, Hermione kicked the ground too and, fuelled by her thirst to prove herself, went up higher and higher in the sky. It wasn't exhilarating in any way, but her face burned at the idea of proving someone wrong.

Still, higher and higher she went.

On the ground, Sirius frowned. What did she think she was doing? She needed to go _around_ the house, not as high as she could get.

But Hermione didn't appear to be listening. Higher and higher she got, until the inevitable happened: she realised what she was doing. A strong gust of wind hit her and her broom and she lost her concentration. She looked down.

Part of her felt like this was a dream. How had she got that far up? Because she was definitely up. After all, why else would the Potters' house look so, oh so small, from where she was? And why would she see a tiny dot zooming around the house at the speed of a rocket? For a while, she didn't panic. She was still digesting the information.

Then she froze.

She stiffened and started clinging to her broomstick like she would to dear life. Which she probably was. All could have gone well, if not for the wind. Another gust hit and she swerved dangerously to the side. Still, she didn't scream. She was much too scared for that.

Back on the ground, the boys had noticed her sudden freeze and were now watching her with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. What did she think she was doing? Then, as they noticed her swerving with the wind, their eyes widened with fright. "Hermione!" Remus yelled at her. "Get down!"

But his cries were swallowed by the wind that blew harder still, as Hermione clutched her broom, petrified. Another strong gust hit, and her leg swung off the broom up to her ankle, so that she was barely on the stick anymore. But still, she was frozen.

James rounded a corner of the house and touched down next to the boys. "Done!" he said happily. Then he noticed the terrified look of his companions. He followed their line of watch and noticed Hermione, still fully on her broom. "Oh, shit!" he said.

Then the four boys witnessed her half fall. James and Remus cupped their hands around their mouths. "Hermione!" they yelled. "Hermione!" There was nothing else they could say.

But still, the cruel air drowned their pleas and thrashed Hermione around. The latter finally noticed the precarious situation that she was in and desperately tried to scramble back onto the seat of her broom.

Exasperated and not knowing what to do, James looked around and declared: "I'm fetching my parents!"

Up in the air, Hermione wanted to cry. She didn't, simply because she was too scared to move. It was over. And that made her even sadder. Another gust hit and, this time, legs and feet let go and she reached towards the earth.

Sirius yelled.

She couldn't even see herself fall. Her face was to the sky, and her eyes were wide open despite her hair whipping at them forcefully. She didn't feel anything. No more fear, not even relief. No. Nothing.

Time didn't slow down. It didn't accelerate either. No flashbacks came to her either. She was just watching the broom get up higher and higher… Or was it her getting lower and lower? She sighed. She didn't know, and, right now, she didn't care. No. She just closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

When the impact came, it was strange. First of all, the Earth felt strangely… warm. Also, she could still feel the wind blowing in every direction, although, this time, it felt more like a friend, or a domesticated animal. Lastly, it didn't hurt that much. It just sent a sharp jolt of pain on her back. She couldn't breathe anymore, and that made her eyelids snap open.

She took a breath and sighed in relief that her lungs weren't burning anymore. She could see, from the corner of her eyeball, an angel. It looked concentrated. She looked up and noticed that the angel had a good looking square jaw, a long and pointy nose, long raven hair and dark silver grey eyes. In fact, the angel looked awfully like…

"Sirius?" she asked, surprised.

He didn't look at her. "You idiot!" he yelled, obviously very, very, very angry.

She looked at the front and almost had a heart attack. She was still on a broom, which was zooming at full speed for the forest surrounding the Potter Manor. "What do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked at him.

"Saving your life!" he yelled back, a bead of sweat starting to form on his forehead, quickly washed off by the sheer power of the wind.

She had a hysterical laugh. "Pull the other one, it's got bells on it!" she declared. "Or try 'suicide mission'!"

"Will you just _shut up_?" he demanded as the steadily grew nearer to the green cover of the trees.

"Not that way!" she screamed. Sirius tried to veer left sharply, but that just sent his broom on a spiralling motion. Still, none of them shrieked in fear, both high on adrenaline.

Finally, they impacted with the first trees. Sirius desperately tried to pull them up, but all he succeeded in doing was hit branches from all sides. Then, the ground claimed them and they crashed hard. Sirius reached for Hermione as the force of the crash made them bounce back up.

He held on to her as tight as he could as they hit the ground a couple more times before rolling over plants and roots. Then they finally stilled.

They didn't move for a while, still in awe at their survival. Then, when he had recovered, Sirius untangled himself from Hermione's body and crawled away. Checking whether or not he sported broken limbs, he noticed, smiling, that all he had were a couple of scratches, and none of them were deep.

Suddenly, anger took over him. Glaring at Hermione's unmoving form, he yelled: "You fucking _retard_! You almost got us _killed_! What were you thinking, taking up James' bet? Why did you even _consider_ taking up James' bet? I mean, afraid of heights like you are, you shouldn't even be _near_ a broomstick, let alone be allowed to ride one! You couldn't just say no?! You had to take it up, thanks to your _stupid_ pride! I almost got a heart-attack! Did you even think about the consequences? What it would do to people? James? Remus? _Me_?"

Suddenly, this one-sided conversation turned into a full-blown confession.

"I mean, _what the hell_?" he continued yelling, unaware that he was saying much more than intended at first. "You don't even leave me the time to figure out what it is that I feel for you! No! You have to go and try a suicide attempt! And, there I go, rushing my thinking, and deciding to save you! Not to mention that I've got weird times where I'm not myself, and it feels like someone placed the Imperius Curse on me! Now I know! Are you happy now?!" he yelled, but she still didn't move.

Sirius was close to tears. He fell to his knees in front of her back. "Now I know." he repeated, but it was in a calm and serene voice. "And now… I think you know too." His head fell and he started sobbing, evacuating the stress. "If things were going downhill before, they're now in freefall." he said.

But, then, the fact that she wasn't answering hit him like a jealous girlfriend's hand. Hard and in the face.

"Hermione?" he asked, filling up with dread. He placed his hands on her arm and shook her gently. "Hermione!" he said more forcefully, but there was still no reaction. He turned her over so that he could look at her face. And what he saw wasn't what he had wanted to see.

Her cheeks were dusty, streaked with the paths her tears were taking. For, yes, she was crying. But her eyes were closed and unmoving, like her body was, and unconscious.

-o-O-o-

**Please review! Thanks to my faithful readers, those who have added this story (or me) to their Follow/Favourite lists, and to my reviewers: TheSpringLover, Hermione-Fan, AuntieL, Love-Mione-Fanfics (who is also the best beta I could ever hope for) and a lovely Guest who sent a lovely review! ;) I love you all! A very Merry Christmas to you, and a Happy New Year, since I have no clue when the next update will be... :D**


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